Regulating migrant domestic work in the Netherlands: Opportunities and pitfalls

Canadian Journal of Women and the Law

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 141-165

  Van Walsum, Sarah ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 79958071622     PISSN: 08328781     EISSN: 19110235     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3138/cjwl.23.1.141     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. See especially Ellen Martinali, "Kwetsbaarheid en Weerbaarheid van Filippijnse Huishoudsters zonder Verblijfsvergunning" (M. A. thesis, Department of Cultural Anthropology, University of Utrecht, 2005) [unpublished];
2. and Sabrina Marchetti", 'We Had Different Fortunes' Relationships between Filipina Domestic Workers and Their Employers in Rome and Amsterdam" (M. A. thesis, Department of Women's Studies, University of Utrecht, 2005) [unpublished].
3. See the overview of the relevant literature provided by Sima Nieborg, Marjan Wijers, and Marjolein Goderie in the research proposal they wrote for the Dutch branch organization of temporary employment agencies Algemene Bond Uitzendondememingen, "Omvang en aard van de illegale tewerkstelling en arbeidsbemiddeling in de persoonlijke dienstverlening" (Utrecht: Verwey Jonker Instituut, 15 February 2007) [unpublished].
4. See, for example, Esther De Ruijter, "Household Outsourcing" (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Utrecht, 2005) [unpublished];
5. and Sociaal en Economisch Onderzoek Rotterdam (SEOR), De markt voor persoonlijke dienstverlening (Rotterdam: Erasmus University, 2004), .
6. RESPECT. NL, "Campaigning for the Rights of MDWs in the Netherlands", in Reader Expert Meeting on the Legal Position of (Migrant) Domestic Workers (Amsterdam, 3 October 2008, organized by Bonded Labour in the Netherlands).
7. For a more detailed description of this broader context, see Sarah van Walsum, "Déni de statut: La non-régulation des soins et services domestiques aux Pays-Bas", in Alain Morice and Swanie Potot, eds., De l'ouvrier immigré au travailleur sans papier: Les étrangers dans la modernisation du salariat (Paris: Karthala, 2010) 45.
8. See Sarah van Walsum, The Family and the Nation: Dutch Family Migration Policies in the Context of Changing Family Norms (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008).
9. Sjoukje Botman, "Transnational Domestic Workers and Employers in the Dutch Welfare State" (paper presented to Transnational Domestic Workers and the National Welfare State, European Collaborative Research Projects (ECRP) networking event, Amsterdam, 4-6 December 2008) [unpublished].
10. De Ruijter, supra note 3;
11. SEOR, supra note 3.
12. In 2003, 74 percent compared to an EU average of 34 percent. Susanne D. Burri, "Flexibility and Security, Working Time, and Work-Family Policies", in Judy Fudge and Rosemary Owens, eds., Precarious Work, Women, and the New Economy: The Challenge to Legal Norms (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2006) 307 at 307-8. More recent figures indicate that 69 percent of all working women in the Netherlands still work part time.
13. Ans Merens and Brigitte Hermans, Emancipatiemonitor 2008 (Den Haag: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau and Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2009) at 12.
14. See Saskia Peters, Verdund sociaal recht. Onderscheid naar ondernemingsomvang bij medezeggenschap, ziekte en ontslag (Deventer: Kluwer, 2006). It should be noted that since they are seen as employees, domestic workers in the Netherlands do derive certain rights from Dutch labour law, including minimum wage, a minimum of six days paid sick leave, and paid vacations.
15. FNV Bondgenoten, Your Rights as a Domestic Worker (2009), .
16. See, for example, Hoge Raad (Dutch Supreme Court), 23 November 1990, Rechtspraak van de Week 1990, 212;
17. Centraal Raad van Beroep (Highest Dutch Administrative Court in Social Security cases), 29 April 1996, no. 95/2907 WW.
18. Tweede Kamer (Dutch Parliament) 1986/87, 19 810, no. 3, p. 2.
19. Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences, Emancipatiebeleid 2008-2011, (Den Haag, Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschap, 2007) at 25-7, Nederlands Vrouwen Raad, .
20. This despite the fact that an advisory council, Raad voor Werk en Inkomen (RW1) had developed a proposal that would allow for full integration into Dutch social security and labour law. Huis houden op de markt: Advies Persoonlijke dienstverlening (Den Haag: RWI, 26 January 2006), Raad voor Werk en Inkomen, .
21. Wijziging van enkele belastingwetten en enige andere wetten (Belastingplan 2007), Tweede Kamer 2006-7, 30 804, no. 3 (Memorie van Toelichting) at 7.
22. Wet kinderopvang, Staatsblad 2004, 455, Stichting Adviesgroep Bestuurescht, .
23. Proefprocessenfonds Clara Wichmann (a Dutch feminist test case fund), .
24. Bridget Anderson, Doing the Dirty Work? The Global Politics of Domestic Labour (London: Zed Books, 2000);
25. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001);
26. Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Servants of Globalization. Women, Migration and Domestic Work (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001).
27. I use the term ethnic minorities because it is frequently used in the Dutch literature, although it does not do justice to the complexity of Dutch society, which is structured along intersecting lines of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and immigrant status in ways that are constantly changing and sometimes counter-intuitive. The only constant factor is that white middle-class men of Dutch ethnic origin consistently remain in the upper echelons of the Dutch "vertical mosaic." See, for example, Rosi Braidotti, Charles Esche, and Maria Hlavajova, eds., Citizens and Subjects: The Netherlands, For Example: A Critical Reader (Utrecht: Basis voor Actuele Kunst, 2007).
28. Homes for the elderly forming the major exception.
29. André Van der Kwartel et al., Arbeid in Zorg en Welzijn 2007 (Utrecht: Prismant, 2007).
30. Price Waterhouse Coopers, Transparantie in de kostenstructuur van hulp bij het huishouden (report written at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, December 2008) at 19, .
31. According to the branch organization in the Dutch health care sector ActiZ, there has been a 30 percent reduction of household services provided through health care centres. At the same time, there has been an increase in services provided through cleaning companies (radio news bulletin Radio 1, 30 September 2009, ).
32. Chantal Melser, Jo van Cruchten, and Leo van Toor, "Waar zijn allochtone werknemers in dienst?" Sociaal-economische trends, 2e kwartaal 2004, 38-44, .
33. Ineke Bloemendaal, Sandra de Kroon, and Francisca van der Velde, Allochtone vrouwen in de zorg. Motivaties, preferenties en belemmeringen voor het werken in de zorg bij Turkse en Marokkaanse meisjes en vrouwen (Utrecht: Prismant, 2008).
34. Sjoukje Botman, Gewoon Schoonmaken. De troebele arbeidsrelaties in betaald huishoudelijk werk (Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 2010); Martinali, supra note 1.
35. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for the Advancement of Women, 2004 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Women and International Migration (New York: United Nations Publishing Section, 2006) at 11.
36. Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Children of Global Migration: Transnational Families and Gendered Woes (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005);
37. Hondagneu-Sotelo, supra note 18;
38. Helma Lutz, ed., Migration and Domestic Work: A European Perspective on a Global Theme (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2008);
39. UN Development Programme (UNDP), Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development, Human Development Report 2009 (New York: UNDP, 2009) at 25-6.
40. See Anna Romina Guevarra, Marketing Dreams, Manufacturing Heroes: The Transnational Labor Brokering of Filipino Workers (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2010).
41. For more information on the position of (undocumented) Philippine and Ghanaian migrants in Amsterdam, see respectively Martinali, supra note 1;
42. and Valentina Mazzucato, "Ghanaian Migrants' Double Engagement: A Transnational View of Development and Integration Policies", Global Migration Perspectives no. 48 (Global Commission on International Migration, 2005), .
43. Govert E. Bijwaard and Justus Veenman, Unequal Chances on a Flexible Labor Market, The Case of the Netherlands, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper no. TI 2008-005/4 (Rotterdam: Tinbergen Institute, 2008) at 21;
44. Manuel Abrantes, "A Momentum for Old Divisions: Responses of Brazilian Immigrant Workers to the Policy Framework of Flexicurity: A Case Study" (Master's thesis, Social Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 2008) at 4.
45. Mary Romero, Maid in the U. S. A. (New York: Routledge, 1992).
46. See, for example, Guy Mundlak, "Gender, Migration and Class: Why Are 'Live-In' Domestic Workers Not Compensated for Overtime?" in Sarah van Walsum and Thomas Spijkerboer, eds., Women and Immigration Law: New Variations on Classical Feminist Themes (Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish, 2007) 123;
47. Romero supra note 32;
48. Anderson, supra note 18;
49. Parreñas, supra note 18.
50. Mary Romero, "Chicanas and the Changing Work Experience in Domestic Work", in Wenona Giles and Sedef Arat-Koç, eds., Maid in the Market: Women's Paid Domestic Labour (Halifax: Femwood Publishing, 1994) 40 at 52.
51. Mary Romero, "Chicanas and the Changing Work Experience in Domestic Work", in Wenona Giles and Sedef Arat-Koç, eds., Maid in the Market: Women's Paid Domestic Labour (Halifax: Femwood Publishing, 1994) 40 at 47.
52. Mary Romero, "Chicanas and the Changing Work Experience in Domestic Work", in Wenona Giles and Sedef Arat-Koç, eds., Maid in the Market: Women's Paid Domestic Labour (Halifax: Femwood Publishing, 1994) 40 at 42-4.
53. Guevarra, supra note 29. On the racialization of Filipino domestic workers
54. see also Parreñas, supra note 18.
55. Merens and Hermans, supra note 9 at 94-5.
56. Circulate no. 157522/91/DVZ/SBO, 11 November 1991.
57. Wet op Identificatieplicht (Staatsblad, 1993) at 660.
58. Beleidsregels boeteoplegging Wet arbeid Vreemdelinggen 2008, Stcrt. 2006, 250, Arbeidsinspectie . It should be noted that the definition of a labour contract in Dutch immigration law is extremely broad, so that workers who might otherwise be typified as freelancers or self-employed are also included.
59. See, for example, the comment by T. de Lange on "Afdeling Bestuursrecht van de Raad van State 3 June 2009" (2009) 344 Jurisprudentie Vreemdelingenrecht 1655.
60. Koppelingswet (Staatsblad, 1998) at 204, .
61. See, for example, Lieneke Slingenberg, "Koppelingspoging mislukt? Over onrechtmatig verblijf als basis voor uitsluiting van voorzieningen" (2009) 6 Migrantenrecht 232.
62. Mazzucato, supra note 30 at 9-10.
63. In a letter of 9 June 2006 to the Dutch Parliament on the regulation of household services, Deputy Ministers Van Hoof and Wijn claim that legal and practical obstacles prevent authorities from controlling undeclared work performed in private homes, .
64. Compare with Marchetti, supra note 1 at 79.
65. Compare with Marchetti, supra note 1 Ibid. at 77-84.
66. See, for example, "Corporatie [that is, a housing corporation] boekt zege op onderverhuurder", NRC Handelsblad (Dutch daily newspaper) (19 July 2008).
67. Mensenhandel: Vijfde rapportage van de national rapporteur (Den Haag: Bureau Nationaal Rapporteur Mensenrechten, 2007) at 233-8.
68. For example, the person involved will have to give proof of annual earnings of at least €45, 000, of a capital investment of €50, 000 (Tweede Kamer, 2005-6, 29 696, no. 3.), Officiële bekendmakingen, .
69. The system is somewhat more nuanced. Lower income requirements may apply to academics, foreign graduates from a Dutch college or university, performing artists, and other workers in the creative industry, including technicians (Decision of 23 August 1995, regarding the application of the Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen (Dutch law on foreign labour), Article 1 (d).
70. Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen, supra note 51, art. 8, para. 1 (a).
71. Most recently in a written reaction (letter addressed to Dutch Parliament of 17 December 2007) to a suggestion made by E-Quality that an admission policy be introduced for domestic workers, .
72. SEOR, supra note 3 at 34 and 74.
73. Compare with De Ruijter, supra note 3.
74. Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen, supra note 51, Article 8, paragraph 1 (d).
75. Vreemdelingenbesluit (Aliens Decree), Article 3.73, paragraph 1 (a).
76. Sociaal Economisch Raad (SER), Advies Arbeidsmigratiebeleid (Den Haag: SER, 2007) at 171-2.
77. Tweede Kamer, 2008-2009, 32 052, no. 2 and 3.
78. Letter from Adviescommissie voor Vreemdelingenzaken to Ms. N. Albayrak, Deputy Minister of Justice, Netherlands (5 March 2009).
79. Staatscourant, 22 July 2009, no. 10982 and 11044.
80. De Ruijter, supra note 3.
81. See the interesting decision of the Haute Autorité de lutte contre les discriminations et pour l'égalité (HALDE, ), CODETRAS (Collectif de défense des travailleurs étrangers dans l'agriculture) v. l'administration des Bouches-du-Rhône no. 2008-283, 15 December 2008.
82. Romero, supra note 34 at 53;
83. Rhacel Parreñas", 'Partial Citizenship' and the Ideology of Women's Domesticity in State Policies on Foreign Domestic Workers" (keynote address to the ECRP networking event Transnational Domestic Workers and the National Welfare State, Amsterdam, 4-6 December 2008).
84. For a proposal for regulation that addresses some of these issues, see Margriet Kraamwinkel and Marcel Reurs, "Heeft u een zwarte of een witte werkster?" (2010) 10 Nederlands Juristenblad 615-20.
85. See, for example, Robert Knegt, ed., The Employment Contract as an Exclusionary Device: An Analysis on the Basis of Twenty-Five Years of Developments in the Netherlands, vol. 16 (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2008);
86. Mary K. Zimmerman, Jacqueline S. Litt, and Christine E. Bose, eds., Global Dimensions of Gender and Carework (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006);
87. Fudge and Owens, supra note 9;
88. Joanne Conaghan, Richard Michael Fischl, and Karl Klare, eds., Labour Law in an Era of Globalization: Transformative Practices and Possibilities (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
89. Alain Supiot, Beyond Employment: Changes in Work and the Future of Labour Law in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
90. Compare with Guy Mundlak, "The Limits of Labour Law in a Fungible Community", in Conaghan, Fischl, and Klare, supra note 66, 279;
91. Alan Hyde, "A Closer Look at the Emerging Employment Law of Silicon Valley's High-Velocity Labour Market", in Conaghan, Fischl, and Klare, supra note 66, 233.
92. Fiona Williams, Claiming and Framing in the Making of Care Policies: The Recognition and Redistribution of Care (report written for the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 2009) at 26.