News item | 18-06-2025 | 16:30
To better support labor migrants in living, working and living, 12 umbrella organizations today in Veghel draw a national covenant with Minister Eddy van Hijum of Social Affairs and Employment. The covenant is part of the alliance “Work in NL” and the signature is the starting signal for cooperation between companies, municipalities and sector organizations. In this way, these parties realize better help and support for EU work migrants.
Minister Eddy van Hijum of Social Affairs and Employment: “In a civilized country like the Netherlands we have to better support labor migrants. More and more companies are looking for ways to do better for labor migrants. This covenant gives a positive boost. Precisely by working together regionally, companies, municipalities and other parties can really support labor migrants.”
Agreements are made for each region with companies, municipalities and other organizations about what aid is offered. These can be agreements about better registration, learning the Dutch language and offering sleeping places for labor migrants who are in danger of becoming homeless. For example, the municipality of Meierijstad, together with employers, is starting a pilot to register their international employees in the basic registration of persons. This registration is done in places where labor migrants work. This also happens in the employees’ own language, such as Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish. The intention is to expand this pilot to the other municipalities and employers in the Noordoost-Brabant region.
The Alliance is part of the “Work in NL” project. In that project, better information, help and support for labor migrants is realized. In 11 of the 35 labor regions there are already special auxiliary points for labor migrants. These points will be established in the remaining 24 regions. All partnerships that are now starting will make a positive contribution to these points.
Organizations that sign the covenant are Abu, COV, FME, Glass Horticulture Nederland, GroentenFruit Huis, LTO Nederland, MKB-Nederland, NBBU, Nepluvi, Association of Labormigrants, Association of Dutch Municipalities, VNO-NCW. Minister Van Hijum is pleased that these organizations sign the covenant because this is an important step towards the good work, living and living conditions of EU labor migrants.