On the evening of 18 June, Amsterdam will host a landmark event for the Personal & Household Services (PHS) sector in Europe. At Pakhuis de Zwijger, experts, policymakers, employers and workers will gather to discuss how household employers can organise, take responsibility, and help shape fair working conditions for the people they employ at home.
The evening has been developed by Myrthe van der Staay, Marijke Bijl and Elena Mataix Caballero, in collaboration with Luna Bongers and EFFE, and is co-funded by the European Union.
The conversation will focus on a central question: what can the Netherlands learn from successful models in France, Italy and Spain? Speakers include:
The evening will also mark the official launch of the Vereniging Huishoudelijk Werkgevers, the first Dutch association dedicated to household employers, a significant step forward for a country where over one million households rely on domestic workers, yet where their legal and social status remains fragile and poorly understood.
EFFE — the European Federation for Family Employment & Home Care — is proud to have supported the creation of this new association and to be part of this evening as a collaborating partner.
For over 10 years, EFFE has worked to structure social dialogue in the Personal & Household Services sector at European level — a sector that is essential to Europe’s care economy, yet where employer and worker representation remains weak or absent in most Member States. Through EU-funded projects including PHSDialogue, Scale Up and now BUILD, EFFE and its social partners (UNI Europa, EFFAT, EFSI) have mapped the sector, developed collective bargaining capacity, and supported the emergence of national employer organisations across Europe.
The launch of a Dutch association is a direct fruit of this long-term work and a reminder that change happens step by step, country by country, when the right people come together.
Household employers are a unique category of employer. They are individuals and families — not businesses — who need support at home for childcare, eldercare, disability care or work-life blalance. Yet the people they employ are often among the most vulnerable workers: frequently women, migrants, rarely covered by collective agreements, and too often without formal contracts.
Giving household employers the tools, knowledge and community to act responsibly is not just good for workers, it is good for the sector as a whole. It creates fairer societies, improves job quality, and builds the trust that sustainable care relationships require.
This is what 18 June in Amsterdam is all about. And EFFE is proud to be part of it.
📅 Thursday 18 June, 20:00
📍 Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
🎟️ Free admission
More information avalable here