DUTCH LIMIT WORK FLOW FROM NEW EU COUNTIRES

The Dutch authorities decided to only let in employees from the new European countries when they do jobs that Dutch people do not want to do. Through this the Dutch government wants to take away unrest that was caused by the fear of a disturbance if the Dutch labour market by a large flow of Polish and Czech workers.

The Czechoslovakian president Vaclav Klaus and prime Minster Vladimir Spidla communicated their anger to the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, just on a visit to explain the new Dutch policy. For years already especially Polish workers do the dirty work in The Netherlands. Both the legal and illegal workers are usually exploited seriously, by very low wages and bad accommodation.

Eventually the Dutch wanted to let in a maximum of 22 thousand employees from the new countries. But most parties did not want to have this quota. Only in branches were there is a lack of personnel can ask for the help of workers from the new EU-states. A special flexible list of branches with a shortage of employees will be created. Some sectors, especially the agro cultural branch will be on the list.

At this moment around 10.000 workers from the East of Europe are now working in the agro cultural branch. The employee and employer organisations are very disappointed. The employers are unhappy with the complicated regulations and the employees are afraid the there will be a huge increase in illegal labour. Also Poland reacted disappointed. Apart from the tradition of Polish workers working in The Netherlands, they also fear the rise of Euro scepticism in Poland .

Insiders say: ‘The polish workers are not coming, they are already here'. Nurses work legally and in the agricultural sector many illegal workers find work for very low wages. An illegal Polish worker does not expect a new huge flow of Polish workers: ‘There is no place for them anymore. On the Dutch field they are pushed aside by the Hungarians and even the Romanians that work for even less money. more features

February 20, 2004