Zaanstad imposing permit requirement on "highly criminalized" window cleaning sector

Mayor Jan Hamming of Zaandstad is imposing a permit requirement on the “highly criminalized window cleaning” industry. According to the mayor, a small group of Dutch Turks in Zaanstad is trying to form a “mafia” using exploited Bulgarians to harass and threaten other window cleaners and take over their work, the Volkskrant reports. From July 1, all window cleaners in Zaanstad must apply for a permit from the mayor, for which they will be thoroughly vetted.

According to the mayor, a small group of Dutch Turks living in the Zaandam neighborhoods of Peldersveld and Poelenburg directs approximately 300 Bulgarian window cleaners. These migrant workers take over the neighborhoods of bona fide window cleaners at the behest of the Dutch Turk bosses, using harassment, intimidation, or even violence to do so. They are severely underpaid for their work and are also dependent on their bosses for housing, which comes at a very high price.

The Bulgarians in question are mostly from a Turkish-speaking minority in Bulgaria. Care providers and agencies have little insight into this withdrawn population group. A recent study by research center Pharos noted: “Bulgarians remain dependent for a long time on intermediaries with whom they can communicate, for whom they work, and on whom they are completely dependent.”

The Bulgarian window cleaners of Zaanstad are almost all self-employed, but the city believes that, in practice, they are completely dependent on their Dutch Turk bosses. Hamming wants to break that dependency with his permit requirement, which he calls “a justified infringement” on entrepreneurial freedom. From July 1, all window cleaners operating from Zaanstad must have a permit. They will also be required to only accept cashless payments. The mayor hopes that this puts up a barrier against undeclared work and money laundering.

Hamning said he realizes this isn’t a foolproof solution. Anyone who moves their company on paper to another municipality won’t suffer any problems, for example. But he wants to make a start. “It is shocking to see how criminals have a grip on the sector with extortion, fraud, violence, exploitation, money laundering, and so on,” the mayor told the Volkskrant. “The problem is so serious that doing nothing is no longer an option.”