Natalia & Olesia's stories
Two more stories today from Ukrainians trying to rebuild their professional lives here in Austria. Plus, an incredible investigation into Russia's "rebuilding" of the Mariupol it savagely destroyed.
Natalia wrote me this morning, asking to share her story, but seeking to protect her identity. Ukrainians know her, she explained. She was locally quite famous, she had been shown on television. Her baking and decorating talents speak for themselves. My jaw dropped as I opened photos and videos of some of the most perfect cookie and cupcake decorating I have ever seen.
There were even videos, works of art every single, identical, hand decorated perfect cookie:
Natalia wanted me to share with you what her experience has been like trying to continue her very well established confectionary career here in Austria.
Natalia’s story
“Good morning. First I would like to thank you for your help to Ukrainians. 🙏🙏 Thank. you for your care and your generous and empathetic heart!! ❤️❤️
I saw that you asked about what challenges Ukrainians face when looking for work in Austria. The main problem is the salaries. They pay us very little here. I will share myself as an example.
I am 39 years old. I have three higher education degrees. Law. Economics. Confectioner. In each of these areas I was a highly qualified specialist with a high salary in Ukraine.
Here I cannot say there is no work. When we arrived in Austria, my son went to work, officially, 40 hours per week in a restaurant at the age of 15. That was no problem.
Now I work in a private school in the cafeteria. I have an international diploma as a master confectioner. But it is this specifically which scares off potential employers. We have a saying “Но именно это часто отпугивает работодателей. У нас говорят “woes from your mind”. Here it is possible to work as a confectioner without such a degree. And when, during interviews, I tell them I have a Master’s degree, I get the feeling that potential employers are hearing this for the first time. They are afraid, and tell me there are no openings for someone with my experience. Because according to local laws, with such a degree, I would have to have a senior role (brand chef, chef-confectioner, manager of the department). They cannot hire me for the factory line with my background.
One option is to hide my educational background, and simply look for a job paying €1000 per month to wash dishes or in a bakery, or to take on any other kind of low paid, physical labor for eight hours a day or more.
And of course language is the main problem. I have been learning languages since the age of six. But they are hard for me. I do speak some English after 15 years of learning it. But I really struggle with German. I am learning German. I go to classes three times per week. I am studying every day at home with the kids. But with each day that passes, I have less hope of being successful in my efforts.
I believe it to be really unfounded that they demand perfect German for so many jobs. We have people in Ukraine working in professional kitchens who are deaf and have Down Syndrome. In supermarket checkout lines, in bakeries, in restaurants, in state offices. This was never a problem, neither for employers nor for workers. There are foreign-born chefs who have been working in Ukraine for more than 20 years and do not speak Ukrainian.
Why do they demand such knowledge of German if the employee will be baking bread or frying schnitzel? Who should the chef speak with?
I am an intelligent person. But I am not sure I will manage German. 🤷♀️ Although that does not in any way reduce my qualifications as a professional in my field.
Another big minus is that when you send your resume to a company, no one even answers. It is just silence. I do not understand, did they receive it, did they not read it, or do I not fit the role? 🤔 If I am not a good fit, why? What is the rationale? I have been sending out my resume for the past month and not a single employer even answered my emails. That is pretty rude to say the least. 🤷♀️
I would love to open my own company here. That would be really an exclusive product offering. What I am doing, Austria doesn’t really have yet. But they say you cannot make money with it here. The taxes are so high. You need a lot of capital to start a company.
Unfortunately, Austria is not really interested in highly qualified foreign specialists and exclusive projects. And we are not really interested in paying 50% taxes from our revenues earned honestly through our hard work.”
(Tanja’s note — I asked Natalia to have coffee with me. We will see if together we can brainstorm some opportunities for her. Her talent is just asking to be put to work as you can see from the photos and video above. I know it is not easy, but those who try hard enough sometimes do find solutions, even in Austria!)
Olesia’s story
“Hi Tanja. I have my own not very positive experience with working. I don’t know, maybe y story isn’t as complicated as others. But I will share it, and you decide if it is worth publishing. Sometimes I wish people would be prepared to understand that this can happen, and that they can be forewarned. Thanks in advance.
I arrived in Austria in August 2022 with my son and my sister. I did not plan to sit on social benefits for long, and in September 2022 I took a job in a hotel. It was very difficult after graduating from university, after working in a bank in managerial positions, to take on a job of physical labor, but I understood it to be the correct decision compared with simply waiting it out. I worked in the hotel for one year and two months. I quit because I was not paid my salaries for September and October 2023. When they did not pay me for September, my employer attributed it to temporary difficulties and asked me to wait a little bit. In early November, we learned that the company had declared itself bankrupt and we were employed by a company that no longer existed.
The employer said it was no big deal. He promised us that we would all receive payments from the state and compensation (for like 10 days he said), and then he would hire us through a different company. But for now he said to keep working. Of course at that point I understood the risk of the situation and I quit. I cannot describe with words my shock that something like that could happen in Austria.
We went to the Arbeiterkammer for consultation. They calculated our salaries for the period we had worked and compensation through 10 January. At that moment we were already two months without salaries. Without any kind of other payments, social or otherwise. We had to pay rent, we had to feed our kids, and live our lives. The tourist season ended and it became harder to find a job. I signed up with AMS, but am not eligible for payments for unemployment until I receive those in connection to the bankruptcy proceedings. So I am waiting for the Arbeiterkammer promised payments through 10 January 2024, and after that I can claim unemployment.
I made a decision to use this break to sign up for German language classes. The scariest part of the whole process is there are no deadlines or timelines. So you have to make a decision not knowing at all when you might be paid. The whole time you are waiting it might be today or tomorrow. In December, my husband came to us from Ukraine. He was waiting for his documents and could not look for work until he received them, so we decided to ask for social payments in the interim. But we were declined because I will have (in the future, not now), a salary from my unemployment (€38.17 per day). They know that at that moment (end of January 2024) my family is without income for four months already. Without the money we earned with our hard work. Without the opportunity to ask for aid from the state. Zero Euros.
Yes, we are all looking for work. But my husband does not know German yet. And h has three-hour long courses in the middle of the day. It is hard to find extra work around that schedule. Plus my own experience really ruined our trust and motivation regarding our future lives here. But we will not stop with that. We will learn the language and hope that everything will work itself out. Today, 7 February 2024, I received a payment from AMS (for 10.01-31.01) of €800. And Familienbeihilfe €230. Our apartment rent is €500 and there ar three of us. But this is too much in the eyes of the authorities so they refused social payments for any of us. I am not complaining and I do not want to say that Austria is doing something wrong. But sometimes I really wonder what could I have done to prevent getting into such a situation in the first place. If you don’t take a job, so as not to risk losing your social payments, then you will not earn anything, and it is bad not to work and not to pay any taxes. If you go get a job, and you try to find your place in this country, you pay taxes — it is also bad it turns out. In a crisis it turns out you have only yourself to rely on. Not to even mention how the employer treated refugees in this case.”
Both of these stories, while wildly different, shed light on the common misconception that Ukrainians “do not want to work”. The truth is far more complicated. I hope that by sharing these individual stories we collectively will have a better picture of the situation, to see the labor market here and how it works in practice also in a a new light.
If you read one thing today, make it this. An incredibly detailed investigation by the FT into how and via whom Russia is “rebuilding” the Ukrainian city of Mariupol it so savagely destroyed. We still do not know how many people died during that time.
Inside Mariupol: Russia’s New Potemkin Village
If you are in Vienna, there will be two screenings of the Oscar-nominated documentary, 20 Days in Mariupol, on February 24, 2024. Entry is free and all donations will go towards YOUkraine. I have seen the film. It is incredibly difficult to watch and at the same time incredibly powerful. Those brave people, each and every one of them.
Lastly, thank you for your continued support. I sent out 5 cards to pensioners in Vienna and Lower Austria today, Mario ordered a bunch more (I cannot thank you enough, on behalf of all the Ukrainians you are supporting), a new batch is going out later this week.