Meat industry faces agency staff ban over abuse of workers

Slaughterhouses and meat processing firms will be banned from using temporary agency staff from mid-2028, government sources have confirmed to RTL Nieuws and the FD, in a move that will affect thousands of workers from eastern Europe.

Social affairs minister Hans Vijlbrief is expected to announce the ban on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting. He had given the industry until June 15 to show real improvements in the treatment of migrant workers or face a ban, saying dozens of rounds of talks since 2021 had failed to deliver progress.

Government-commissioned research found that more than a third of the sector’s 37,000 workers are hired through agencies, and over 80% of those agency staff are foreign workers, mainly from Poland and Romania.

Complaints about the sector include underpayment, working weeks of more than 40 hours, unsafe conditions, intimidation and violence.

Some workers brought to the Netherlands by slaughterhouses have ended up in homeless shelters, RTL reported, because losing their job also means losing agency-provided housing.

Vijlbrief had wanted the ban to take effect on January 1, 2028, according to RTL, but agriculture state secretary Silvio Erkens argued companies needed more time to take workers onto their own payrolls.

Under the compromise, all staff must be directly employed by June 1, 2028, with the rule applying to new contracts in the months before that date.

The measure will now go out for public consultation and to the Council of State for advice. It does not require a new vote in parliament.

Industry body VleesNL says conditions have improved sharply and that 90% of its members will directly employ at least half of their staff by the end of the summer. Ministers first began preparing a ban a year ago, and Germany imposed a similar one in 2021.