An early and a late broadcast of pointer on television Sunday evening and together they sandwiched nicely news hour. In fifteen minutes (Pointer 1) and 25 minutes (Pointer 2), respectively, there was a spot that had been itching for some time, but which had not yet been scratched open to the point of bleeding and has not yet healed. You could also say: they were two well-selected news items on moving images.
First the migrant workers from the Pointer special. The fact that they work in poor conditions in the Netherlands, and live in even worse conditions, is not news in itself. That we know, but do nothing or too little about it, is what Pointer reminds us of.
In 2021 they already went on an inspection with officials of the Haagse Pandbrigade, in 2022 they went again, and very much had not changed in the living conditions of workers from abroad. A stuffy rental house, twelve people in the living room, seven mattresses on the floor, and another pile against the walls, 18 sleeping places in total. Another team finds forty young Spaniards sharing one house, while workers in yet another share their mattresses with bed bugs.
Who is responsible here? The employer who hires employees who pay just a little less than he has to? The employment agencies that mediate between workers and employers? In any case, it is a lucrative business for the intermediaries who not only provide work, but also housing and transport. The rent of a mattress: 109 euros. Weekly. The van between mattress and work: 25 euros per week. Missing a bus: fine of 20 euros. Mattress next to that of your friend: that is 20 euros extra.
Can that just happen? No of course not. But what can you do? Municipalities can hand out fines. But that turns out to be a calculated business risk for the traders in labor migrants. Nail over an overcrowded house and fine the landlord? That’s already happening. Criminal prosecution? That is difficult, Pointer shows. Stow people on mattresses in a house is bad, but not punishable. You can’t call it human trafficking, legally speaking, it’s not really exploitation either. Perhaps it is a mistake. And so we were reminded of that again.
Source of the threats
Pointer 2 found out who is behind the threats against companies that cleaned up the mess over the summer. Hay bales, car tires, dung heaps, everything farmers dumped on the highways had to be cleaned up. Those who came to do so, usually in the middle of the night, were called, texted, threatened and verbally abused. They were Nazis, collaborators, traitors and the enemy of the peasant.
Thomas Mulder, Pointer’s investigative journalist, standing in an empty warehouse, laptop within reach, reveals where the source of the threats is. On the Telegram messaging service, there is a ‘hotline for actions and treason’ where photos and video of cleaning companies are shared. Plus name, telephone number and, if possible, home address of the owner.
Bert – not his real name – owns a green business and he has “pushed” threateners off his property. His face is not in the picture, but his fists with black mourning edges under the nails are telling enough.
The question is who is behind that hotline on Telegram. Thomas Mulder has also investigated this. The administrator of the hotline leads to Convoy Nederland, an action group inspired by Canadian truckers who oppose mandatory vaccinations. Is that allowed, just throwing addresses on the internet to provoke hassle? No of course not. That’s called doxing. And that is bad, but not (yet) punishable.