Siti’s story and the complexities of migration
In 1999, with hope and determination, Siti (not her real name) came from Indonesia to the Netherlands. Not knowing what her future would hold, all she could think about was how she could earn a better salary to support her family. Six months prior, Siti’s husband had had an accident, breaking his hip which then caused him to lose his job. Siti could not afford her husband’s medical expenses on her own and she had a hard time financing her daily needs.
Siti’s story and the complexities of migration
Desperate for money, Siti saw an advertisement in a newspaper in Indonesia about a job vacancy in the Netherlands. She became interested as the job offered her a monthly salary of €1,000 in the Netherlands. She had already heard from her friends that if she wanted to earn a good salary, she needed to work abroad. Little did she know that from that point forwards, her life would change completely.
Siti reached out to the so-called ‘agent’ who had posted the job advertisement in the newspaper. She was called for an interview, for which she was asked to pay IDR 2 million (€117). After the interview, Siti was asked to pay another IDR 14 million (€816), which she was told was for her work visa. Siti ended up having to sell her motorcycle to cover all the costs demanded by the agent.
When Siti finally arrived in the Netherlands, she was picked up by someone, who told her she had to pay €550 for transportation and accommodation. In the end, Siti did not get the job offered in the newspaper advertisement, and it later transpired that the agent had no connection with the company offering the job. Instead, she was forced to work as a domestic worker, earning far less than she had expected. She became an undocumented migrant domestic worker and was left with a significant debt. She not only had to cover her husband's medical bills; she also had to repay the agent who sent her to the Netherlands.
Economic difficulties are the main reason for Indonesian workers to seek work abroad.
Siti is still working as an undocumented domestic worker in the Netherlands, earning €700 a month. She has managed to pay off her debts, pay her husband's medical bills and send her children to university. Despite this, and after 25 years of living in the shadows and being invisible, Siti remains in the Netherlands, afraid that she will not be able to find a job in Indonesia or that her salary there will be much lower.
The complexities surrounding undocumented migrant domestic workers
Siti’s story is just one example of the many stories of undocumented migrant domestic workers in the Netherlands. There are many other ‘Sitis’ currently working as domestic workers, facing unfortunate circumstances or even worse conditions than Siti. This highlights the complexities surrounding immigrant domestic workers.
Soraya (2020), a former secretary-general of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (IMWU), a union based in the Netherlands for Indonesian migrant workers, argued that economic difficulties are the main reason for Indonesian workers to seek work abroad. It is difficult to find a job in Indonesia and the salaries are low. High expenses, such as healthcare and education, as well as daily living expenses, add to the pressure. Looking more broadly, however, this issue is not simply a matter of economic difficulties; the urge to find a job abroad also underscores global inequality. Milanovic (2012) explained that 80 per cent of global income inequality is due to the large differences in the average income between countries, where the wages of unskilled workers in wealthier countries are 10 times higher than in poorer countries. This is one of the major driving forces for workers from poorer countries to seek jobs abroad; just like Siti, tempted to go to the Netherlands to earn a better salary. For Siti, this meant that she could transfer her income to her family back in Indonesia, paying her husband’s medical bills and financing her children’s education.
Workers are caught between the promise of better livelihoods abroad and hte harsh realiyt of undocumented labour.
Siti came to the Netherlands because she thought she had found a job through an agent: yet the agent deceived her about both the job and her work visa, resulting in her becoming an undocumented worker. According to Soraya (2020), the process of sending Indonesian workers to Europe has been an issue for some time, due to the absence of formal agreements between the countries leading to abuse of the legal processes. Because there are no formal agreements, Indonesian migrant workers are not officially recognized as formal employees. Consequently, they live in host countries without legal status and work without proper permits, facing a variety of social and professional difficulties as a consequence. As they are unaware of the complex procedures of working abroad, such migrant workers have no option but to trust the ‘agency’ which helps them migrate, even if they have to pay and are left in debt.
Yet conversely, there is demand for immigrant workers in the Netherlands, particularly for domestic workers, as Dutch people rarely take these jobs. This again reflects the lack of policies in the host country, where workers remain undocumented despite the high demand for their labour.
Undocumented domestic workers bear a heavy burden as they have to remain invisible. They have to stay under the radar to avoid getting caught and be forced to leave the country. As a consequence, they cannot claim rights such as access to healthcare and social security, nor to decent working conditions such as working eight hours a day and receiving a minimum wage.
Some of these workers decide to become visible so that they can claim these rights. One of the ways they do this is to actively participate in a workers’ union. For Indonesian domestic workers in the Netherlands, this usually means participating in and becoming a member of IMWU. The union makes it easier for workers to access their rights and become socially recognized and protected. In the case of IMWU, participating members receive their own membership identity card which they can use in encounters with the police. Many migrant workers have indicated that they feel more confident and secure with their union ID card (Eleveld and Hooren 2018). IMWU also provides members with access to legal professionals who can assist them if they encounter problems.
However, IMWU as a union can only do so much. It provides a support system, but it cannot claim rights for domestic workers. It participates in campaigns, such as that for the ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention 2011 No. 189 (C189) by the International Labour Organization, but that is all. Undocumented workers in the Netherlands thus find themselves in a complicated situation. On the one hand, they may choose to be visible to claim their rights, yet on the other they fear that this visibility will endanger their position. As Tazzioli and Walter (2016) explained, these workers want to show the Dutch society that they exist by saying: ‘We are part of this society, acknowledge us, respect us.’
Being a domestic worker in the Netherlands
The issue of undocumented domestic workers in the Netherlands is an ongoing debate. There are many workers like Siti, who come to the Netherlands based on false promises by agents, and who are then left in debt and unable to return to their home countries.
part of a larger global phenomenon shaped by economic inequality, migration policies and labour exploitation
The challenges faced by such immigrant domestic workers are not isolated but rather part of a larger global phenomenon shaped by economic inequality, migration policies and labour exploitation. These workers are caught between the promise of better livelihoods abroad and the harsh reality of undocumented labour. Addressing their struggles requires not only support systems but also structural changes to immigration and labour policies and laws. Only when these issues are resolved, can workers like Siti finally gain their rights and be respected as an employee working in another country.
Siti’s story and the complexities of migration
Melisa Try Hatmanti graduated from ISS in 2023. Her master thesis, written in collaboration with an Indonesian domestic workers union, was nominated for the Research Paper award.
Women, workers, humans: the road to decent working conditions for domestic workers in Indonesia
Siti’s story and the complexities of migration
References
Eleveld, A. and Hooren, F. (2017) ‘The governmentalization of the Trade Union and the potential of union-based resistance. The case of undocumented migrant domestic workers in the Netherlands making rights claims’, Social & Legal Studies 27(5): 596-615.
Milanovic, B. (2012) ‘Global inequality: From class to location, from proletarians to migrants’, Global Policy 3(2): 125-135.
Soraya, Y. (2020) ‘The heterogeneous of state and state governance: Case of Indonesian irregular migrants in the Netherlands’, Indonesian Journal of International Law 17(3).
Tazzioli, M. and Walters, W. (2016) ‘The sight of migration: Governmentality, visibility and Europe’s contested borders’, Global Society 30(3): 445-464.