A network of shady Estonian companies involved in the exploitation of Ukrainian shipyard and construction workers have also operated at the Rauma shipyard, the Finnish news agency STT reports on Sunday...

Earlier this year, the Regional State Administrative Agency (Avi) for Southwest Finland imposed a fine on one of the Estonian companies because it had concealed information about foreign employees working at the shipyard.

STT has previously reported that the company has exploited Ukrainian workers and violated working conditions at the Turku shipyard and several construction sites.

It says that the companies use an intentionally opaque corporate structure, with labourers sometimes receiving paycheques from several different firms in successive months with no valid explanation and receiving contracts signed by unknown individuals.

...some subcontractors who violated Ukrainian labour conditions at the Turku shipyard have also used similar tactics, including layers of shell companies, in the construction industry...

In 2023, another Estonian firm, Hodes Rental...similarly underpaid Ukrainian labourers on several construction sites in Helsinki, Turku and Kuopio, according to the union.

The former Estonian owner of Hodes Workforce now owns HSSM, which has violated the rights of Ukrainian shipyard workers, STT says.

Last weekend, STT reported on the treatment of Ukrainian workers in subcontractors operating at the Turku shipyard. Minister of Labour Matias Marttinen (NCP) has condemned the firms’ practices as "completely reprehensible"...