Domestic cleaners employed by private households are paid an average €12.50 an hour, but rarely get holiday or sick pay, according to research carried out for trade union federation FNV.

While basic pay rates are good – the minimum wage is €9.50 a hour – the union says it wants to see a collective pay bargaining system set up for domestic cleaners.
‘It is a serious profession and cleaners deserve the same rights as other workers,’ the Volkskrant quotes the FNV as saying.
At the moment, just 4% of employers pay their cleaner if she or he is sick, 6% pay them for four weeks of holiday and one third continue to pay their cleaner if they are on holiday themselves. Some 9% pay less than the minimum wage.
The FNV estimates there are some 155,000 people currently earning their keep through domestic cleaning and some 890,000 households which employ cleaners. Most of the contracts are agreed informally.
The FNV launched a similar campaign in 2010.
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