Germans head to Poland in hope of better job prospects

We've often brought stories on the movement of workers from Eastern Europe to Western Europe but now one that breaks the rule. An increasing number of Germans from the East of the country are moving further East for jobs in neighbouring Poland. Apparently tired of being denied employment at home. It's a reversal of a centuries old pattern, whereby Poles travelled to Germany in search of better lives.

44 year old Tossilo Schlicht comes from the Eastern German town of Forst, right on the Polish border. After the collapse of the East German state, he tried his hand at various jobs at home. He worked as a shop assistant; he had a job at a local factory. But in Eastern Germany's bleak labour environment, all the companies he worked for went under, one by one. One day he just had enough, having to make ends meet on a meagre 200 euros a month he received on the dole. He decided that Poland's thriving western province offered much better prospects. Tossilo now works at a Polish a petrol station in the town of Zasieki, earning 2000 Zl - which is over 430 euros.

This is how bemused Polish customers are greeted by Tossilo, the new German cashier at the petrol station in Zasieki. Before he started commuting across the border on a daily basis, had looked for a permanent job for 14 years back home.

"I read about this job in a newspaper and decided to scramble for it as I'd already had work experience at a petrol station. Now I do 12 hours every second day at the cash-desk, and I'm happy to have a good job again."

From his home in Forst, it only takes Tossilo Schlicht a few minutes to get to work in Zasieki. As a guest worker he doesn't feel strange in Poland. Unable to speak good Polish, Tossilo found the beginnings difficult especially when it came to working with the computer, but with colleagues or customers the problem of language disappears - he's able to speak his mother tongue with them:

"It doesn't matter that I speak broken Polish. I guess 90% of the people filling up here are Germans. But I'm learning Polish at the moment, I really want to understand the Polish customers. At work there aren't any problems as everyone speaks fairly good German, and when we can't communicate using German we use hands and legs..."

In fact, the petrol station employs 4 other Germans - all as cashiers. The trade director, Edward Szylkiewicz, explains that being situated so close to the Zasieki/Forst border crossing they are mostly oriented toward tourists and German customers. A German assistant is clearly an advantage.

"In care for our customers and service improvement we employed the 5 German cashiers while giving work to several Poles in this little frontier town at the same time. To my mind the Germans are better at dealing with German customers, having similar mentality they have a better feel; Poles haven't always met the expectations."

It was a bit of a hurdle for the company to employ German assistants, as the Polish labour market is still protected. Guest workers from the west may be rare in Poland, and after EU enlargement next May, Poles are expected to search for work all over Europe, rather than the other way round. But at least in the case of Eastern Germany, unemployed people like Tossilo Schmidt may well start reversing this trend.