According to municipalities, the cabinet is waiting too long with measures to improve the position of labor migrants in the Netherlands. This is evident from an inventory of NRC among the twenty municipalities with the highest percentage of labor migrants. They believe that the cabinet is lagging behind in implementing the recommendations of the Roemer Committee, which appeared more than a year ago.
Former SP leader Emile Roemer published a report in October 2020 with fifty proposals to improve the position of labor migrants. The recommendations were aimed at structurally solving the problems of exploitation and unhealthy living and working conditions. A large majority in the House of Representatives called for rapid implementation.
But that is not the case yet, say several municipalities. According to the municipality of Venlo, “it now seems quiet around this theme”. Horst aan de Maas saw little movement last year, partly due to the caretaker nature of the cabinet. The Hague already sent a letter to the House of Representatives in February 2021 with the message to speed up. “In the current situation, people are being exploited and the municipality cannot tackle this at the cause,” the municipality writes in response to questions from NRC.
The municipalities mainly demand rapid legislation and regulations regarding the certification of employment agencies, the registration of labor migrants, the disconnection of the rental and employment contract and improvement of enforcement. These are all points from the Roemer report. As long as there is no national policy, little will change, says Rotterdam alderman Richard Moti (Work and Income, PvdA). “I really miss the urgency. We see every day what problems there are with housing. We see the exploitation, but there is still no draft law.”
In research
In mid-December, the outgoing cabinet wrote in a letter about the progress of the approach that 50 million euros was available in 2020 and 2021 for housing for vulnerable groups, including labor migrants.
“But in that letter, the cabinet agrees that little has changed,” says Alderman Moti. “Everything is under investigation, but the position of the EU migrant worker has changed little.”
Waiting for national policy has direct consequences, according to the municipality of Tilburg. “We have insufficient insight into where migrant workers reside and have no legal basis and resources for the integration and reception of EU citizens,” the municipality writes. “We can therefore not always reach migrant workers with relevant information, for example about corona, and they are more vulnerable in the event of setbacks, poor employment practices and poor living conditions.”
Also read this report: In these Rotterdam neighborhoods, even the pizzeria is Polish
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment says it “does not agree with the statements that implementation has not yet taken place”. According to the ministry, structural money has been reserved in the coalition agreement to improve the position of labor migrants. “The need and urgency are also felt by the new cabinet. But the ministry also sees that problems surrounding labor migration are unruly and long-term cooperation between all parties is and remains necessary. †
Even the pizzeria is polish p.10-11
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 8, 2022
#Municipalities #urgent #approach #labor #migrants #needed