Contract winner using bullying tactics

Ibrahim Abousreaa has studied Finnish for six months and his English is already laced with Finnish words for ‘trial period’ and ‘warning’ and the like. In September 2014, this Egyptian-born man was a new father living in Espoo and was over the moon to have found his first paid job as a cleaner at a company called SMC Palvelut Oy. The client sites were mostly schools in the Espoo area.

‘I wasn’t familiar with Finnish law and that’s why I didn’t know that you are not supposed to work seven days a week and over ten hours a day, for example,’ explains Abousreaa, who had studied law in his native country.

Soon he joined PAM and started to question his pay, among other things. As a result, the pace of his work picked up even more; he might have only been paid for five hours when he had worked for eight, for example.

In 2013, PAM Magazine reported on problems at a company called Super Moon Cleaning Oy, which provided cleaning services for Espoo schools. Both the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) and the police had received reports from foreign workers, who suspected their employer of illegal activities. The following year, certain executives of Super Moon Cleaning appeared before the Helsinki District Court, charged with extortionate work discrimination, among other things. The injured parties in the case were foreign workers. Only one of the two defendants was convicted for a working hours offence and for unauthorised use of foreign labour. Other charges were rejected. At the time, AVI’s control report was enough for Espoo to drop Super Moon Cleaning. The then Chief Procurement Officer stated that ‘the report shows the company’s systematic disregard for labour legislation and obligations to society’.

According to the records on the Trade Register, one of the two individuals charged in the District Court was deputy to the CEO of SMC Palvelut Oy while Abousreaa was working there. The convicted individual, in turn, was Abousreaa’s superior.

In March 2015, Abousreaa was given a warning for non-compliance with working hours and deficiencies in work performance. He did not understand the content of the warning issued in Finnish.

‘I said to my boss that I won’t work eight hours for five hours’ pay – that I know my rights now.’

Five days later, he received a second warning, citing a client complaint about toilet facilities that had been left wet. According to Abousreaa, the toilets were cleaned with a shower, as instructed by the supervisor, in order to save time. The second warning meant dismissal.

PAM has granted Abousreaa legal assistance and the case has been submitted to a lawyer, who brought action against SMC Palvelut Oy earlier this week. The action concerns unpaid wages and unfair dismissal.

Toni Åman, official at PAM’s Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Office, is familiar with Abousreaa’s case and says that there are sufficient grounds for the action.

SMC recently won a contract with the City of Espoo for 18 cleaning sites. The company has also been awarded sites in other municipalities, such as Sipoo and Tampere. It is advertising for dozens of cleaners on the website of the Employment and Economic Development Office.

Ari Erkinharju, the current Chief Procurement Officer of the City of Espoo Procurement Centre, is not aware of SMC Palvelut Oy’s ties to a company with a history of District Court charges and convictions.

‘We conduct full background checks of all of our contracting partners as outlined in the Act on Public Contracts. According to the Act, certain offences are absolute criteria for exclusion.’

The Act, which became stricter in 2016, also cites as obligatory criteria for exclusion the same Penal Code sections on working hours offences and unauthorised use of foreign labour for which one of the Super Moon Cleaning executives was convicted.

The responsible business behaviour of tenderers is verified as part of competitive tendering procedures and it is monitored later on during the validity of any contracts that may have been awarded.

‘If it turns out that a company has not behaved responsibly, it is certainly possible to cancel an existing contract,’ Erkinharju points out.

SMC Palvelut Oy does not have any record of legal cases. However, issues such as treatment of employees or any legal action brought by them do not necessarily become known during competitive tendering procedures.

‘We obviously won’t get information until a court ruling becomes effective, except in cases like this, when someone calls us. Now we will definitely examine whether the contract is warranted.’