Amsterdam gym suspends managers for exploiting migrant cleaning staff

The management team responsible for cleaning at the Amsterdam luxury gym Saints & Stars has been suspended, owner Tom Moos announced in a video.

Moos responded to reports last week in Het Parool about the exploitation of Filipino and Indonesian cleaners working at the gym. According to the newspaper, the gym forced at least 23 cleaners to surrender their passports, work up to 17 hours a day, and share a bed.

The Labor Inspectorate is investigating the situation at the company, Moos confirmed in the video on the gym’s website. Saints & Stars has also launched its own investigation.

Moos disputes Parool’s conclusions. He also said that Saints & Stars employees have been “spat on, boycotted, and even threatened with death” since the publication.

Moos said that Saints & Stars has been working with the same cleaning company for some time. Because that company was short-staffed, they worked for three months at the gym’s newest location with people who were “allowed to work in the European Union.” He declined to say whether these workers came from the Philippines and Indonesia.

The gym owner claimed he never received any reports of exploitation. He will apologize if anything did go wrong, he said.

Following the Parool publication, several people started a crowdfunding campaign for the gym’s cleaners. So far, it has raised over 33,000 euros.