Reykjavik, Iceland – Two days ago two Romanian workers suffocated while wielding pipes for the geothermal expansion project at Hellisheidi, east of Reykjavik (1). The Hellisheidi power plant is being expanded by Reykjavik Energy company. The campaign group Saving Iceland believes that serious accidents are almost unavoidable due to the extreme circumstances the Eastern European workers in Iceland are forced to work in.
Work camp
Work camp
Hellisheidi geothermal construction site
At the construction site for the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant expansion, the labour intensive work is done by Polish and Rumanian workers. These live in a work camp on the construction site. The Rumanian pipe wielders of which two died are working for Altak, a contractor of Reykjavik Energy.
This is a summary of the circumstances workers are living in (2).
- The pipe wielders work 72 hour weeks in up to 17 hour long shifts, even in the winter.
- They work there for 3-6 months on end and then have a three-week holiday before they return to this project or a similar project in Iceland or elsewhere.
- They are not paid to Icelandic standards but to Romanian standards, with a monthly salary approximating 2300 Euros at current exchange rates (for a 72 hour work week).
- They are however paid in Icelandic Krona, rather than Euros. Due to devaluation of the Krona they have seen a quarter of their income disappear without compensation.
- They are forced to stay in the camp, with one night out in Reykjavik per month.
- The camp is worse than a prison – there are no recreational facilities and no gymnastic / sports facilities. Even their televisions do not work because the location hampers reception.
- Requests for simple facilities such as a football pitch or even a table tennis table are turned down.
- Those who complain too much are threatened with loss of their jobs.
- Workers have been told the expansion of the power plant is meant to provide energy for the city of Reykjavik. However, the plant is being expanded to provide energy to Century Aluminum’s smelter at Grundartangi, north of the city.
“It is not surprising that deadly accidents happen to workers who have to work 17 hour pipe wielding shifts. It is ironic that a public owned company such as Reykjavik Energy, who credits itself with being clean and green, constructs its facilities by exploiting foreign workers in this fashion. No Icelander would work in these circumstances. The only people willing to do this work are those that have very little opportunities and have no choice but to do this, to support their families back home” says Jaap Krater, a spokesperson of Saving Iceland.
“We have brought this issue up at previous actions that we have done at Hellisheidi (3, 4), but Reykjavik Energy has taken no action to improve the worker’s lot. Now that a number of workers have suffered a horrible and tragic death by suffocating in the pipes they were wielding, action has to be taken now to stop this scandalous behaviour by a company that is owned by the city of Reykjavik,” says Krater.
About Saving Iceland
Saving Iceland was started by Icelandic environmentalists asking for help to protect the Icelandic wilderness, the largest remaining in Europe, from heavy industry. Aluminium corporations Alcoa, Century Aluminum and Rio Tinto-Alcan want to construct a number of new smelters in Iceland. This would require exploitation of all the geothermal areas in the country, as well as damming most major glacial rivers (see
http://www.savingiceland.org/sos).
For more information
http://www.savingiceland.org
savingiceland@riseup.net
References
1. Iceland Review (2008). Two Immigrant Workers Die in Work Related Accident. http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=310772
2. For reasons that will be obvious from reading the above, it is not possible to reveal the sources of this information.
3. Saving Iceland (2008). Saving Iceland Shuts down Geothermal Drilling Work at Hellisheidi. http://www.savingiceland.org/?p=2425&language=en and http://www.politube.org/show/817
4. MBL.is (2008). News report. http://www.politube.org/show/817
This is a summary of the circumstances workers are living in (2).
- The pipe wielders work 72 hour weeks in up to 17 hour long shifts, even in the winter.
- They work there for 3-6 months on end and then have a three-week holiday before they return to this project or a similar project in Iceland or elsewhere.
- They are not paid to Icelandic standards but to Romanian standards, with a monthly salary approximating 2300 Euros at current exchange rates (for a 72 hour work week).
- They are however paid in Icelandic Krona, rather than Euros. Due to devaluation of the Krona they have seen a quarter of their income disappear without compensation.
- They are forced to stay in the camp, with one night out in Reykjavik per month.
- The camp is worse than a prison – there are no recreational facilities and no gymnastic / sports facilities. Even their televisions do not work because the location hampers reception.
- Requests for simple facilities such as a football pitch or even a table tennis table are turned down.
- Those who complain too much are threatened with loss of their jobs.
- Workers have been told the expansion of the power plant is meant to provide energy for the city of Reykjavik. However, the plant is being expanded to provide energy to Century Aluminum’s smelter at Grundartangi, north of the city.
“It is not surprising that deadly accidents happen to workers who have to work 17 hour pipe wielding shifts. It is ironic that a public owned company such as Reykjavik Energy, who credits itself with being clean and green, constructs its facilities by exploiting foreign workers in this fashion. No Icelander would work in these circumstances. The only people willing to do this work are those that have very little opportunities and have no choice but to do this, to support their families back home” says Jaap Krater, a spokesperson of Saving Iceland.
“We have brought this issue up at previous actions that we have done at Hellisheidi (3, 4), but Reykjavik Energy has taken no action to improve the worker’s lot. Now that a number of workers have suffered a horrible and tragic death by suffocating in the pipes they were wielding, action has to be taken now to stop this scandalous behaviour by a company that is owned by the city of Reykjavik,” says Krater.
About Saving Iceland
Saving Iceland was started by Icelandic environmentalists asking for help to protect the Icelandic wilderness, the largest remaining in Europe, from heavy industry. Aluminium corporations Alcoa, Century Aluminum and Rio Tinto-Alcan want to construct a number of new smelters in Iceland. This would require exploitation of all the geothermal areas in the country, as well as damming most major glacial rivers (see
http://www.savingiceland.org/sos). For more information
http://www.savingiceland.org savingiceland@riseup.net References
1. Iceland Review (2008). Two Immigrant Workers Die in Work Related Accident.
http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=310772 2. For reasons that will be obvious from reading the above, it is not possible to reveal the sources of this information.
3. Saving Iceland (2008). Saving Iceland Shuts down Geothermal Drilling Work at Hellisheidi.
http://www.savingiceland.org/?p=2425&language=en and http://www.politube.org/show/817 4. MBL.is (2008). News report.
http://www.politube.org/show/817 
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