SILVIA'S STORY: I wake up at 4:30 in the morning. At 5 am, the company bus picks us up and takes us to the factory. At 5:30, I start preparing my work for the day. The shift starts at 6, and I work very fast trying to complete the daily quota. We have a 5-minute break at 10:00 am, and a lunch break which lasts 20 minutes. I eat convenience food. We have learned to eat very quickly in order to finish our lunch before the shift restarts. We have no time to talk to each other. Then, I get back to work, focusing on sewing as many items as possible. If you work fast, you earn more. If you are a slow worker, you will get less. There is another 5-minute break before the shift ends at 2:30. A few times a month, we work up to 4 overtime hours when we have high orders. It's tiring, but this is the only way of earning some extra cash. When I arrive at home, it is already 6:30 in the evening, and I need a mental break after a day's work. Usually, I cannot take more than a few minutes' break. I must take care of the animals, do the laundry, check my two children's homework, clean the house, and prepare the food for the following day. From 4:30 when I wake up, to 10 pm, I work all the time. This is all, so that I can simply earn enough to survive. Sometimes, I am so tense and stressed out after a day's work that I have no patience with my two children(5 and 11). I can lose my temper when they ask questions. It happens, I admit it. We sometimes work all of the four Saturdays in a month, sometimes we work on Sundays, when the orders are high. No manager ever asks me if I have other things to care for at home. I feel that I must come and work overtime because I understand it is necessary for the employer. And at other times, we have no work at all. The employer tells us we have to stay home for a week. They use our paid holidays for that. How do we live?! How can one live on a minimum wage? When I get my wage, I pay back my loans for the last month. I pay 450 RON/€96 for the rent, I pay my utilities, and I am left with nothing. So I call my relatives and borrow money again. I have never been abroad. Not even to see the Romanian seaside, not even out of this town. Without a bank credit, it's impossible to redecorate my house or invest in some basic appliances. Most of us have loans to pay back. We also had one, but we now try to only take small loans, so that, in case my husband, who is also a garment worker, or I lose our jobs, we can still pay it back. If there was another employer in this region, who paid even a little bit more, everyone would leave the factory. Everyone. But ours is the only one. What will become of us? What else could we do? This is a desperate region. The only other option to survive would be stealing. We want to earn money honestly. So we have to stay in this factory. 14 ROMANIA 2018