Marcelis Boereboom immediately resigned from his position as Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) on Friday. Are decision follows shortly after research by the FNV trade union into the working atmosphere within the ministry, which is said to be “unsafe” and “toxic”. Boereboom says that he does not have “the strength and energy” that he believes are needed to solve the problems within VWS, for health reasons.
In an internal email, Boereboom writes: “This decision is difficult for me. The signals that reached us last week about inappropriate behavior and an unsafe working environment in our department are very dear to my heart.” He also says he finds it “terrible” for colleagues who have had to deal with inappropriate behavior.
Shortly after the publication of the FNV survey, Boereboom wrote that the ministry will take immediate action, first of all by conducting an investigation into “social safety and manners at VWS”. Based on the results of that study, the ministry will decide which measures are necessary. FNV has now reported the abuses to the Labor Inspectorate.
‘Additional measures’
FNV vice-chairman Kitty Jong: “Since the publication of our exploratory research, there have been additional reports of inappropriate behavior at VWS. We feel a responsibility and have therefore reported this to the Labor Inspectorate. We expect this to be addressed with the same urgency as an industrial accident. Because that is how transgressive behavior should be seen.”
FNV reopened the previous poll after the publication of the research. In the 24 hours that followed, more than 150 additional people completed the survey and 16 people indicated that they wanted to be called back about their employment situation. FNV says that new reports indicate that the internal investigation of VWS is distrusted. It could be traced back to the civil servants themselves, for example because of overly specific questions about which department and under which managers.