Dutch Farmers Slapped with Fines over Illegal Bulgarian Workers

Dutch mushroom producers have been fine EUR 1.5 M for illegally employing Bulgarian workers. File photo

The Labor Inspectorate in the Netherlands had fined country's mushroom producers with over EUR 1,5 M for employing illegal migrant workers from Bulgaria and Poland, the Bulgarian information agency BTA informs.

The Inspectorate had probed 98 out of 250 mushroom producing companies in the Netherlands and found a total of 120 foreign workers, mainly Bulgarian and Polish, who did not have a work permit.

In addition these workers had received lower wages than those agreed upon in advance over high deductions for accommodations, food and training. The workers were paid for 38 hours a week while they actually worked much longer.

The hourly wage of EUR 4 to 5 is still much higher than the average those workers could make in their own countries and this is why they did not complain, the Dutch authorities say.

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