{"id":3878,"date":"2019-02-25T09:36:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T08:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/?p=3878"},"modified":"2020-06-03T15:42:19","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T13:42:19","slug":"spanish-workers-in-the-netherlands-complain-about-abusive-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/spanish-workers-in-the-netherlands-complain-about-abusive-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish workers in the Netherlands complain about abusive conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around 500 Spaniards have alerted the embassy about problems with the work schedules, wages and housing provided by temporary employment agencies.<\/p>\n

With an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the Netherlands has become a European laboratory for the creation of flexible jobs for young workers. But the shadow of exploitation<\/a> looms over its ability to attract temporary foreign workers, especially the unskilled ones.<\/p>\n

Last year, the department of labor, migration and social security at the Spanish embassy in The Hague received 487 individual and collective complaints from citizens who were put in touch with Dutch temp agencies by Spanish recruitment companies. The working schedules, the wages and even the accommodation turned out to be a nightmare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Spaniards who filed complaints were selected by Spanish-Dutch recruitment companies such as Temporales and Covebo. The goal was to send workers to Dutch firms such as Post NL (a postal service), Bol.com (an e-commerce site), and Ingram Micro (an information technology wholesaler). The workers say the conditions they found were not what they had been promised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pre-employment contract signed in Spain with Temporales for the Dutch company Tempo Team had no relation with the reality,\u201d says Luis, 40, who went back to Barcelona after getting his hopes dashed. He says that under the deal he reached with the company, he would move to the Netherlands and live around 10 kilometers from his workplace. Instead, he and his colleagues were sent to a campsite in Lommel, Belgium, two hours away from Post NL, where their job was to unload packages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bungalow was very small and two people would sleep in one room and another one on the couch. But it cost nearly \u20ac100 a week per person. The supermarket was three kilometers away and there was no Wi-Fi. I was taking distance learning courses, so I lost the admission money I had already paid. I didn\u2019t get paid every week, and sometimes it would be two months before you saw a paycheck,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But the worst part, says Luis, was the aggressive attitude at work. \u201cIn this temporary work sector in the Netherlands, there\u2019s been a lot of Polish workers for years. And maybe they viewed us as the competition,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sources at the Spanish embassy note that pre-employment contracts like the ones used by Temporales or Covebo (known earlier as Pran) \u201care not legally valid, because there is no link between Dutch and Spanish legislation.\u201d These sources say that those contracts typically offer around \u20ac1,600 a month, which is the minimum salary in the Netherlands for 40 hours of work a week. Approximately \u20ac400 goes into rent, another \u20ac100 into medical insurance and up to \u20ac100 in transportation expenses. Food is also at the worker\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the working schedule cannot be guaranteed. This is determined by the temp agency on the basis of what the Dutch company needs. The contracts are flexible and they include a clause that says the worker can be fired at any point. Everything depends on how much work there is,\u201d adds the embassy source.<\/p>\n

Managers at the temp agency Temporales said they are aware of 2% of the 500 or so complaints that affect them directly. In a telephone conversation, the company manager in Spain, Elena Lucas, said that the Dutch company Tempo Team guarantees 30 hours of work a week and 120 hours a month, and that if there is not enough work to do for lack of demand, the wages are paid anyway. \u201cI\u2019ve been sending people to the Netherlands for five years. It\u2019s not easy to emigrate. But some of them don\u2019t show up for work, the get high on marijuana and drive around in that state. Accommodation is found in houses in the city, and very occasionally at campsites,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Manuel D\u00edez, from this same recruitment company, expresses it in a more direct way. \u201cFeelings are one thing, and facts another. Most of those who lacked the patience to wait for their wages and complained to the embassy did not comply with the house rules at the place where they staying. Tobacco and drugs are not allowed, yet they smoke marijuana. If there are other kinds of problems, we work to solve them,\u201d he says in a telephone conversation.<\/p>\n

Ana, a 44-year-old from C\u00e1diz, worked for Ingram Micro after getting recruited by Covebo, which sent her to a distribution warehouse. \u201cThe hardest part was that the temp agency treated us like we were lumps of meat,\u201d she recalls. Ana says that she and her work colleagues lived nearly 90 minutes away from work, inside a \u201ctiny\u201d bungalow for three people located three kilometers from the nearest village.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intermediaries who dealt with things like housing and transportation were all Polish. And they\u2019re the ones who were always high. The way they would speed down the road was because of the marijuana,\u201d says Ana. \u201cAlso, you can\u2019t get sick or you lose your job. I did get paid, but it didn\u2019t feel like we were in the Netherlands, in the developed world in Europe,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Sources at Covebo said that all Spaniards arrive in the Netherlands with a signed pre-employment contract and are housed in regular buildings. \u201cWhen there are special campaigns, like at Christmas for instance, we may use campsites because we get 300 workers all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Francisco Javier, a 33-year-old from Seville, also worked for Post NL and Ingram Micro, and he complains about the safety conditions at the campsite. \u201cDrugs were being sold, and I was robbed. There was no security and no lighting, and there were constant brawls, especially among the Poles,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But things were not better at work. \u201cThe attitude was very bad. I was once refused entry, which is a form of abuse. I thought going to the Netherlands would be an unforgettable adventure, but I wasn\u2019t even paid at the first job,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

When these workers get recruited, they are presented with an image of the Netherlands as a country where everything runs smoothly and you earn more money if you work hard. \u201cBut when it comes down to the reality, the complaints build up and sometimes any excuse is good enough to fire them. The recruiter here cannot guarantee or coordinate anything in the Netherlands. However, back in Spain, where the tests and interviews take place, they give candidates the opposite impression,\u201d says a source at the Spanish embassy.<\/p>\n

Flexi-jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problems with flexible jobs are the same for Spanish as for Dutch people. But the former have the added difficulty of accommodation, which is one of the main complaints from Spaniards who emigrated to the Netherlands for work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFlexibility is good for the employer, because if there is no work, the worker gets laid off without ceremony. The market trend is to try to convince people that a fixed job with greater security is a thing of the past, that change is where it\u2019s at, but this manifestly comes with insecurity,\u201d says Marianne Jekkers, of the National Union Federation of the Netherlands (FNV).<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTemporary work companies are not outside the law. And we unions are fine with flexi-work, but the bad part is the legal arrangements that end up taking away money and rights from workers,\u201d says this unionist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eline Willemsen, who heads the department against labor exploitation at the Dutch non-profit Fair Work, recommends that Spanish workers really look at the conditions of the contract they are signing with the temp agency. \u201cIt might have nothing to do with the preliminary contract offered by the recruiter in Spain. And it is not always translated either. Sometimes it is written in English or in Dutch. The hyper-flexibility of the Dutch market is so patent that now even the government wants to regulate it a little. On the other hand, local authorities should coordinate the housing provided by the temp agencies, because mere compliance with living conditions guidelines is not enough,\u201d adds Willemsen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/elpais.com\/elpais\/2019\/02\/25\/inenglish\/1551082394_641037.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around 500 Spaniards have alerted the embassy about problems with the work schedules, wages and housing provided by temporary employment agencies. With an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the Netherlands has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wow-world.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}