Staffing agencies which exploit seasonal workers will face criminal charges under new legislation on people trafficking which the cabinet has just put out to consultation.

The legislation introduces the term ‘serious disadvantage’ to describe offences such as substantial underpayment, breaking the law on working hours, poor housing and restrictions on movement, such as confiscating a passport.

‘Human trafficking leads to personal tragedies and is damaging to society as a whole,’ junior justice minister Erik van de Burg said. ‘It is up to us to protect the victims. Those responsible for trafficking and exploitation should be tackled.’

Last year, the social affairs ministry inspectorate warned that people moving to the Netherlands to do low-skilled work are living in ‘increasingly miserable conditions’ and that Dutch firms are opting to use cheap foreign workers rather than innovate or improve working conditions.

Around 15% of Dutch staffing agencies – or around 2,500 companies – are breaking the law and exploiting staff, the head of the social affairs ministry inspectorate told the NRC in an interview.

Rits de Boer told the paper that the bureaus are paying workers less than the minimum wage, breaking working hours regulations or fining staff if they turn up too late.

Distribution centres, slaughterhouses and greenhouses are all reliant on low paid personnel and staffing agencies are actively recruiting workers in central and eastern Europe, he said. ‘They come because the staffing agencies facilitate it,’ he said. The agencies, in turn, consider the workers to be ‘bulk goods.’

Malgorzata Bos-Karczewska, editor-in-chief of Polonia.nl and advisor to various Dutch govermental bodies on EU-labour migration, told Dutch News that labour inspectors need a better overview of the problem if they are to act effectively.

‘What really needs to change is something fundamental, the mindset of the offenders,’ she said.  ‘How do you change behaviour? By ending the current underlying business models which suggest employees must be supplied as cheaply as possible.‘