On 9 July 2020, I was invited to contribute to an online expert panel in preparation of the Migrant Worker Protection Taskforce's second advice to the Dutch government.
In my input, I underlined the following three points:
2. Citizenship: A structural problem for migrant workers are not ill-willing parties, such as growers and rogue employment agencies, but the lack of social rights that collective labour agreements offer. Alongside the lack of information about their rights and opportunities to learn the Dutch language, migrant workers are de facto workers without economic citizenship.
2. Voice: There should be a structural sounding board for migrant workers in policy formulation as expressed in the Taskforce's first advice: "In the coming period more such meetings will be organised and interviews will be held with migrant workers and others [...] "(First Recommendations 2020). Here, trade unions are no substitute for direct representation given their lack of success in organising migrant workers.
3. Chain approach: Beyond traditional social partners in the labour market, the inclusion of other powerful actors in the agri-food chain, such as supermarkets. The Ministry of Agriculture should be at the table in policy formulation, but also actors related to migrant housing.