Minister threatens to close companies that exploit migrant workers
Companies that exploit their migrant workers will face closure, NSC Minister Eddy van Hijum of Social Affairs and Employment told the Telegraaf. He is opting for a “harsh approach” to exploiting people by paying them too little, making them work too many hours, and forcing them to live in horrible conditions, he said.
Employment agencies or employers bring migrant workers to the Netherlands, often from other European Union countries, but increasingly also from outside Europe. These workers are often dependent on their employers for housing and are frequently housed in too-small spaces or places that are not suitable for habitation. Because of this dependency, migrant workers who lose their jobs often also lose their place to live, and as a result, the number of homeless migrant workers has grown rapidly to around 10,000 people.
Parliament asked the government to investigate whether companies that exploit their workers can be closed. “We had this legally investigated and it appears that it is possible. The Labor Inspectorate has already been given the opportunity to impose higher fines, but with this new tit-for-tat policy, we are also going to give the option to temporarily close companies,” Van Hijum told the newspaper. “We hope to catch the real criminals with that.”
To implement this harsher policy, Van Hijum is increasing the capacity of the Labor Inspectorate, which currently has about 1,750 full-time workers. “My predecessor has already increased the capacity by 90 FTEs, but it will be expanded again by another 45 FTEs,” he said.
He will also investigate whether he can increase the fines for exploitation even further and further criminalization. “There is currently a business model in which profit is made by bringing migrant workers to the Netherlands and having them work and live here under miserable conditions. We cannot accept that, which is why everything is aimed at destroying business models focused on exploitation,” Van Hijum said.
