Netherlands could ban some EU firms from posting workers to protect migrant laborers
Migrant and seasonal workers run a high risk of being treated as third-class citizens when they are temporarily posted to the Netherlands by a company based elsewhere in the European Union. Hiring migrant workers in such a roundabout way should be banned in some sectors, the Advisory Council on Migration wrote in a report released on Wednesday.
Labor exploitation is made possible by “unclear situations and evasion routes.” Posted temporary workers are at risk of “not receiving the wages, working conditions or social security to which they are entitled,” the Council wrote.
Posting workers within the European Union is a growing trend, which has undesirable consequences in its current form not only for the migrant workers themselves, but also for the Netherlands, the Council continued. The government should therefore exclude “flexible employment contracts,” including circumstances where a worker is posted, in sectors where abuses occur frequently, the Council recommended.
Sectors that are often in the news due to abuses include the meat processing industry, agriculture and horticulture. The organization is an independent advisory board that provides advice to politicians “on request and on its own initiative.”
A posted worker is defined as someone who is working in the Netherlands, but is employed by a company based in another European country. The laborer can be from anywhere in the EU, but also from non-Member States.
The employment construction means that “circumstances that employers sometimes create are very opaque.” Employers can therefore easily exploit the situation. “It is almost impossible to know exactly what a posted migrant worker is entitled to,” an issue that the Dutch Labor Inspectorate also faces, the Council wrote in its report, “No Third-Class Citizens.”
Just like more typical migrant workers, who are hired in the Netherlands by Dutch companies without this employment construction, posted workers are often dependent on their employer for housing. Migrant workers from outside the EU are the most vulnerable because they are also dependent on their employer for their residence permit.
Companies that post temporary workers keep their costs lower more easily. They often pay lower wages and contribute health and social security premiums to the country from which the employees are sent, which are often lower than in the Netherlands. The Advisory Council fears that “wages and working conditions for the entire sector will become worse.”
The Council advised the Cabinet to be stricter in its handling of rogue employers. In addition, the Netherlands must make better agreements internationally, both in the European Union and bilaterally with countries from which many employees are sent to the Netherlands.
