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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

2008 Archive

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Council: no public money to bad employers

15 April 2008 - Amsterdam should not do business with bad employers, such as cleaning companies that fail to pay their workers a living wage. A proposal to that effect was presented today by SP, PvdA and Groenlinks.

The council members have launched their own plan because they are irritated with the lack of initiative on the part of the city government. "I've raised this issue three times now, and each time I was promised that such a policy was under preparation", Emre Ünver (PvdA) told News from Amsterdam earlier this year.

According to the proposal, the municipality should not do business with companies that fail to comply with core labour standards. Companies that offer their staff decent conditions of employment should be given preferential treatment in contracting procedures.

The initiators further want the municipality to employ more handicapped people.

FNV Lokaal Amsterdam, the local branch of the largest trade union federation, supports the proposal. "In sectors such as cleaning and post delivery, the position of workers is often miserable. Money raised by citizens should not end up in the hands of employers who treat their employees badly", spokesman Roel Jansen says.

In a recent FNV study, 58% of municipalities said they apply social standards in contracting procedures, more than twice as many as in 2006. Generally, this regards employment issues. The current proposal is different in that it addresses how employers treat their staff.

Proposal, FNV Lokaal (both in Dutch). Photo: cleaners campaigning for living wage

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