Strengthening the position of migrant workers together

Migrant workers who come to the Netherlands for employment, mainly come from Eastern Europe and Asia. They often end up working low-paid jobs in sectors like agriculture, horticulture, construction or manufacturing. Usually, the money they earn is sent back to their homeland to support their families.

Migrant workers are an easy prey for malicious employment agencies and companies looking for cheap labour, especially in times like these, with prices on the rise. Too often, migrant workers are underpaid, uninsured and forced to live in appalling conditions. So what role can ABN AMRO play in reducing this problem? We discuss this with Fred Bos, Head of Commercial Clients, and Yuri Herder, Business & Human Rights Advisor at ABN AMRO.

Why is the bank concerned about this issue?

Fred: “A number of ABN AMRO's legal predecessors were involved in slavery-related activities in the 18th and 19th centuries. The bank apologised for that in April this year. But that's not the end of it. It's about learning from the past and taking responsibility. Buses are currently driving to the Ukrainian border to bring people to the Netherlands and get them to work here under poor conditions. A Polish minister even warned Polish citizens not to go to the Netherlands because of the ongoing exploitation of migrant workers. This concerns me, as a banker and as a human being. We have clients in sectors where these people work. In line with our purpose, 'Banking for better, for generations to come', we must play our part in combatting exploitation.”

What does labour exploitation mean?

Yuri: “In the Netherlands, employees have many rights, including the right to a minimum wage (or a higher collective wage), normal working hours, insurance, travel allowance, holidays, you name it. However, employers don't always abide by these laws where migrant workers are concerned. These workers are not always registered, may not speak the language well, and tend to be unfamiliar with the rules, rights, standards and values that apply here. That makes them vulnerable. And they often live in unhealthy, poorly maintained housing. It's time for temporary employment agencies and hirers to take responsibility and to ensure that this kind of abuse no longer takes place.”

How does the bank contribute to improving the situation?

Yuri: “As a bank, we offer loans and bank accounts. We serve twelve sectors, six of which employ significant numbers of migrant workers. Entrepreneurs are not always aware of possible labour exploitation, but they do have a responsibility in this regard. Our relationship managers discuss this theme with companies. We brainstorm with entrepreneurs about how they can contribute to better living and working conditions for migrant workers. Based on the advice of the Roemer Committee, we have established a set of criteria that relationship managers can use to assess the situation with clients and work on improvements. These criteria include responsibly handling issues like sick pay, travel cost compensation, health insurance and housing.”

Some companies want cheap labour. Are they open to discussion?

Fred: “Yes, absolutely. In fact, some companies approach us about it on their own initiative. For instance, at one point a food sector company read in the news about their temp agency's poor track record with migrant workers. This was a dilemma for the client. They don't want to contribute to this issue, but neither do they want to let down the migrant workers who already work for them. So now we're looking for a solution together. We aspire to be not only the client's financial partner, but also their partner in social sustainability.”

Yuri: “We're going for improvement and counting on the goodwill of employers. Employing migrant workers isn't a problem in itself, as working in the Netherlands helps them support their families. The problem lies with malicious employment agencies and hirers. We’re not the police and don’t pretend to be, but we do take measures when we can and should. We refuse to work with employment agencies that are not certified by the Dutch Labour Standards Register. If they are, and become clients, we continue monitoring the extent to which they uphold good employment practices and where there's room for improvement.”

Fred: “We are working actively with trade union FNV on this. With FNV, we published an interactive support flyer that will help our relationship managers start a dialogue. Afterwards, hirers can use the flyer themselves to assess whether they are working with a malicious employment agency, and more importantly: what they can do if that's the case.”

Are we making progress in this area?

Fred: "I'm pleased to say we're taking very concrete steps. For instance, we're working with our Risk department on ways to fund migrant housing. Our cooperation with FNV also makes it easier for relationship managers to talk to entrepreneurs. We still have some way to go, but awareness of the issue is growing enormously, both inside and outside the bank. In March, we raised the subject at a session with 250 relationship managers. I'm proud that they're helping us tackle this problem by having these conversations with clients.”

Yuri: “In the Netherlands, labour exploitation is one of the biggest human rights problems. That's why it's so important that we work together with clients to improve the situation. We hope that other banks will follow us in this, to prevent malicious companies from simply moving to another financial service provider. We can only solve this problem together.”