Dutch supermarket workers speak out

More than 250,000 people in the Netherlands work at one of the thousands of supermarkets and grocery stores around the country. Research conducted by the CNV Services Union coordinator Fedde Monsma indicates that many of these workers are being cheated out of part of their salaries.

Fedde believes the supermarkets are systematically exploiting their employees, through tactics such as not paying them for the extra time they work when closing the store or by deducting sick hours from vacation time. According to Fedde's most conservative estimate, these efforts allow the supermarkets to pocket at least seven million euros a year, money which should be paid to their workers.