‘Polish pay trick dupes both workers and the Dutch state’

At least two Dutch staffing agencies in Poland are using loopholes in the law to bring cheap Polish workers to the Netherlands to pick fruit and vegetables, a local council official in Westland has claimed.


Arne Weverling says the situation is leading to unfair competition on the jobs market and that the Dutch state is losing money.
Much of the Netherlands’ greenhouse food production industry is located in Westland and the council is currently trying to get more Dutch jobless people into work, RTL News points out.
Expenses
‘The labour migrants are paid according to Polish standards – which means they get around €500 a month,’ Weverling claims. In the Netherlands they also get €1,000 in so-called expenses, taking them up to around the minimum wage level.
This construction allows staffing agencies to pay lower rates and ensures unfair competition, Weverling says. He wants social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher to close the loophole at a European level.
Labour and Christian Democrat MPs on Saturday also called on Asscher to take action.

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