Employees of the Diamant group in Tilburg receive less wages due to a new tax measure. Since January, some people receive between 30 and seventy euros per month less. Former alderman and current Tilburg’s Lower House Esma Lalah worked a day on Friday and listened to the harrowing stories.
In 1999, Laura Barton came to work at the Diamond group as a 19-year-old. Over the years she held all kinds of different functions. For example, she worked during woodworking, in catering and in the cleaning. Nowadays she works in the packing department, where she packs earplugs together with many colleagues. “It is not easy if you have to make ends meet with less money. That many people are now going further down is very bad,” says Laura. “Politics is not doing well at the moment.”
“There are people who have to save to go to the dentist.”
The Tilburg Member of the House of Representatives Esma Lalah (GroenLinks-PvdA), who was previously alderman for the existence in Tilburg, visited the Diamant group on Friday to hear the experiences of the employees. “There are people here who have to save to be able to go to the dentist and who already have trouble making ends meet. It is terrible if you suddenly have fifty euros less a month to spend money, it is even more difficult to make choices that spend their money,” Esma Lalah says.
Employees of work development companies such as the Diamant group are financially deteriorating due to the new tax measures. These measures are intended to stimulate working more hours, but many people in work development companies work part -time due to a physical or mental disability. They are simply unable to make more hours. Their net income drops on average by around 50 euros per month. That is a substantial amount for some.
“I have received 32 euros per month since January, but colleagues have been cut more than 70 euros.”
Marc Tuijtelaars was allowed to put Esma Lalah the tricks of assembling and packing headphones. “She learns fairly quickly and picked up every step well,” says Marc delighted. “It is fair and decent production work, but due to the problems with the tax measures, our wages have gone down. I have been getting 32 euros a month less since January, but I have colleagues who have been cut more than seventy euros. That is very disappointing.”
According to Marc, the cabinet’s idea that the measure would encourage people to start working more, is not getting anywhere. “Even though people here would like it, they can often no longer work physically or mentally. I now work twenty -eight hours a week and that is the limit for me. Moreover, if I go to work more, I would get problems with housing allowance and care allowance, which means that I will eventually go back. My income is very close to the assistance standard, I don’t get the minimum wage at all at all.”
“People think, we still matter.”
Marc hopes that the tax scheme will be compensated and that the wages of employees will also be increased because everything has become more expensive. “All costs have only risen and our purchasing power has only decreased further in recent years,” says Marc.
Esma Lalah takes all the stories from Tilburg to The Hague and hopes to be able to do something for the disappointed diamonds. “Last Dindag we received a petition with twenty thousand signatures from people who have the same problems since January. The cabinet is putting the ball at the municipalities, they should solve this, but municipalities have no money at all, they are already being cut,” says Esma. “The most cynical thing is that the people who are working hard here, we still think through all this hassle. That should never happen.”
