Wednesday 20 November 2019

Drive to place people with disabilities in regular jobs largely flops: SCP

Drive to place people with disabilities in regular jobs largely flops: SCP

A government scheme to integrate long-term welfare claimants and people with mental and physical disabilities into the regular workforce has largely failed, according to the socio-cultural think-tank SCP. There has been little change in the number of welfare claimants finding work since the project began in 2015 and people who used to work via sheltered employment schemes now find it much harder to get a job at all, the SCP said. And while more youngsters with some form of disability... More >

Temp agency workers can't make ends meet

Temp agency workers can't make ends meet

One in three people employed through a temporary employment agency needs a second job to keep their head above water financially and almost half find it difficult to make ends meet, according to a survey by the CNV trade union federation. Six in 10 of the 600 people interviewed said they would rather have a permanent job and 25% said they have to be available on a full time basis, even though they only work part time. Staffing agency workers... More >

Recruiters who discriminate face big fines

Recruiters who discriminate face big fines

People with ethnic minority roots are still less likely to get a response to their cvs than the native Dutch although discrimination has gone down, according to research for the social affairs ministry. The research coincides with the publication of new draft legislation which would increase the fines for employers who don’t actively tackle discrimination. The researchers placed 707 fake CVs on online CV banks and monitored what reactions they generated from potential employers and recruiters. While there was no... More >

Care workers really free on days off

Care workers really free on days off

The new pay deal for care workers working with people with disabilities includes a clause allowing them to ignore messages and phone calls from work while they are off duty. The FNV trade union, which negotiated the deal, said the clause was a specific request from workers and is the first of its kind in the Netherlands. ‘Many of our members were unhappy about being contacted,’ said negotiator Karim Skalli. ‘This agreement means you are really off on your day... More >

'Agencies should be banned': school heads

'Agencies should be banned': school heads

Half of heads of primary and special needs schools think using commercial agencies to fill vacancies should be banned for being too expensive, a survey by school heads’ association AVS and the Volksrant found. Some 586 heads participated in the survey, most of whom work in primary and special education, the sectors most affected by the current teacher shortage. Schools are increasingly turning to commercial agencies to supply teachers, for both permanent and temporary positions. One in three school heads... More >

More people working into their seventies

old person hands typing at a laptop in close-up

More people working into their seventies

The number of people working beyond their 70th birthday has more than doubled in the last 15 years, latest figures show. In 2018 7.3% of septuagenarians earned an income from working, compared to 3.3% in 2003. More than half (55%) were self-employed sole traders (zzp’ers), a proportion that rises to 69% of over-75s. David van Bodegom, of Leyden Academy, told RTL that the decision of when to pension workers off should take account of their wishes and circumstances. ‘Some people... More >

FNV union membership dips under 1 million

FNV union membership dips under 1 million

The biggest Dutch trade union federation has dipped under one million members, the organisation says on its website, but still claims three times as many members as all the Dutch political parties combined. Some one in five workers are now thought to be members of a trade union, down from one in three in the 1980s. However, just 5% of the under-25s are members. The FNV, however, says it is adding between 2,500 and 5,000 new members a month, most... More >

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