At least 2500 temporary employment agencies knowingly violate the law when employing workers from abroad. That assessment is made by the Labor Inspectorate. The abuses are ‘unworthy of the Netherlands’, says Minister Karien van Gennip (Social Affairs, CDA).
Almost 17,000 employment agencies are active in the Netherlands. According to Inspector General of the Labor Inspectorate Rits de Boer, one in seven can be regarded as unsafe as malicioushe says NRC. The employment agencies break the law by underpaying migrant workers, not paying overtime or imposing fines if someone is late. Converted, this concerns 2500 such cowboys, and then De Boer is still ‘on the cautious side’, he says: ,,It could also be double that.”
De Boer’s signal is not new: a committee led by former SP leader Emile Roemer has also come to the conclusion that everything is wrong at thousands of agencies that supply staff to greenhouses and slaughterhouses, among other things. According to Minister Van Gennip, inspections and interventions are already being carried out more often. “We are ramping up enforcement.”
At the same time, there is still no licensing requirement for employment agencies. That duty, recommended by Roemer, will only become a reality in 2025 at the earliest.
Earnings model through the use of migrant workers
Van Gennip says he finds it ‘unworthy of the Netherlands’ that there are companies that have turned it into a revenue model by competing on terms of employment with the use of labor migrants. “That is just not possible. People who sleep in bunk beds, work a lot of hours, who are not paid the minimum wage. We shouldn’t want that.”
But it doesn’t seem to work out. According to Van Gennip, a different mentality is needed in sectors and at employment agencies that often work with migrant workers. “Do you only comply with the law when the Labor Inspectorate comes by or do you simply comply with the law because you are a decent employer? We need to have that conversation. I cannot send the labor inspection every day.”
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