An early and a late broadcast of pointer on television Sunday evening andtogether they sandwiched nicely news hour. In fifteen minutes (Pointer 1)and 25 minutes (Pointer 2), respectively, a place that had been itching for awhile, was not 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 inpoor conditions in the Netherlands, and live in even worse conditions, is notnews in itself. That we know, but do nothing or too little about it, is whatPointer reminds us of.
In 2021 they already went on an inspection with officials of the HaagsePandbrigade, in 2022 they went again, and very much had not changed in theliving conditions of workers from abroad. A stuffy rented house, twelve peoplein the living room, seven mattresses on the floor, and another pile againstthe walls, 18 sleeping places in total. Another team finds forty youngSpaniards sharing one house, while workers in yet another share theirmattresses with bed bugs.
Who is responsible here? The employer who hires employees who pay just alittle less than he has to? The employment agencies that mediate betweenworkers and employers? In any case, it is a lucrative business for theintermediaries who not only provide work, but also housing and transport. Therent of a mattress: 109 euros. Weekly. The van between mattress and work: 25euros per week. Missing a bus: fine of 20 euros. Mattress next to that of yourboyfriend or girlfriend: that is 20 euros extra.
Can that just happen? No of course not. But what can you do? Municipalitiescan hand out fines. But that turns out to be a calculated business risk forthe traders in labor migrants. Nail an overcrowded house and fine thelandlord? That is already happening. Criminal prosecution? That is difficult,Pointer shows. Stow people on mattresses in a house is bad, but notpunishable. You can’t call it human trafficking, legally speaking, it’s notreally exploitation either. Perhaps it is a mistake. And so we were remindedof that again.
Source of the threats
Pointer 2 found out who is behind the threats against companies that cleanedup the mess over the summer. Hay bales, car tires, dung heaps, everythingfarmers 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 andverbally abused. They were Nazis, collaborators, traitors and the enemy of thepeasant.
Thomas Mulder, Pointer’s investigative journalist, standing in an emptywarehouse, laptop within reach, reveals where the source of the threats is. Onthe Telegram messaging service, there is a ‘hotline for actions and treason’where photos and video of cleaning companies are shared. Plus name, telephonenumber and, if possible, home address of the owner.
Bert – not his real name – owns a green business and he has “pushed”threateners off his premises. His face is not in the picture, but his fistswith black mourning edges under the nails are telling enough.
The question is who is behind that hotline on Telegram. Thomas Mulder has alsoinvestigated this. The administrator of the hotline leads to Convoy Nederland,an action group inspired by Canadian truckers who oppose mandatoryvaccinations. Is that allowed, just throwing addresses on the internet toprovoke hassle? No of course not. That’s called doxing. And that is bad, butnot (yet) punishable.