Staff Feeding U.S. Troops Complain Of Harassment Problem Is American Civilians, Not Gis, Hungarian Women Say

Some Hungarians employed in the kitchens serving U.S. troops backing up the peace force in Bosnia claim Americans are sexually harassing and exploiting them.

There are few complaints against GIs. Nearly all involve American civilian staff of the local subsidiary of Houston-based Brown and Root, which employs nearly 200 Hungarians as kitchen helpers, construction workers and drivers.

The Hungarians formed a union last week to press their grievances against International American Products Ltd., sending complaints to the U.S. Embassy in Budapest and to Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn.

The managing director of the Brown and Root subsidiary suggested that most of them had no reason to complain.

Szilvia Nyers, a kitchen worker, said her American boss “feels me up on the pretext of a body search every day.”

Cook Csaba Horvath alleged that the American contractors “do with us as they please,” including cutting wages by two-thirds without warning.

Julia Varga, another cook, said an American employee of International American Products recently offered her 40,000 forints (more than $300) a month if she moved in with him.

Kitchen worker Ildiko Szabo said she was offered 20,000 forints ($130) by a GI to have sex with him.

“They regard us as dirty, stupid and backward,” Szabo said of her International American Products employers. “… I had all sorts of ideas about Americans and America, but what we got was totally different.”

Brian K. Williams, of Camden, N.C., managing director of International American Products, refused to discuss the allegations in detail, but said: “We are giving them jobs and try to treat them fairly.”

Responding to complaints like those of kitchen helper Zsuzsa Tetrina, who said she was told to clean up vomit even though it wasn’t one of her duties, Williams said, “Our feeling is that you have to do what you have to do.”

In Houston, Brown and Root spokesman Jay Kraker said he had not heard of the accusations. “We do, within Brown and Root, have strict policies against any kind of harassment,” Kraker said.

U.S. military officials had no immediate comment.

The complaints have cast a cloud on what both sides have sought to depict as exemplary relations since the 3,500 American soldiers stationed here began arriving in the region last December.

The soldiers - most of them in logistic and supply positions for the 60,000-strong NATO-led force policing Bosnia’s peace - have tried to maintain good relations in this village of 2,000 and neighboring Kaposvar, a pleasant city of 80,000 about 50 miles southwest of Budapest.

GIs regularly visit classrooms to help with English lessons or show slides and videos of their duties. Municipal officials meet with commanders to discuss anything from traffic to choir performances for the soldiers.

In Taszar, open meetings every two weeks permit villagers to ask questions of U.S. officers, and the base is open to weekend guided tours.

Expectations were high when the Americans came. International American Products handed out three-month contracts and wages triple that of the going rate in Hungary. A cook’s salary, for instance, was the equivalent of $900.

But new, monthlong contracts offered when the longer ones expired offer only $320 to that same cook.

“They do with us as they please, refuse to renew contracts with no reason given, lower our wages,” said Horvath, the 22-year-old cook. “Nobody is supervising them. They are a state within a state.”