Labour to get tough on over-earning members

Labour party members who earn more than the prime minister will find it hard to get a job as a minister or other senior official for the party, PvdA chairwoman Lilianne Ploumen said at the weekend.


Hospital and housing corporation bosses must be ‘frugal and service-orientated’, Plouwmen was quoted as saying in Monday’s Volkskrant. Otherwise they will not get jobs on behalf of the party, she said.
The prime minister’s salary of €181,000 is considered the maximum for people working in most parts of the public sector.
The PvdA is currently drawing up a code of conduct for members which includes a limit on the number of additional jobs people can do and makes sure politicians who have lost their jobs are forced to apply for new work.
Plouwmen told the paper she is not concerned the pay limit will lead to a shortage of good candidates for PvdA functions. ‘We have 58,000 members, great people who will serve the public interest for less than the prime minister’s salary. We have enough people to choose from.’
Jacques Tichelaar, who used to lead the PvdA in parliament, told the Volkskrant he thought linking party membership to public sector salary was odd.

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