The Value Of A Clean Home

I watched the Dutch news the other day, on my iPad. Being a Dutchie living abroad, I like to do that, but only every once in a while. I saw a topic about cleaners on strike and protesting in the streets of Amsterdam. Typically, people protesting and being on strike want higher wages, amongst some other things. The same applied to these cleaners. Some high flying executive came on camera, mentioning he paid them 120% of the minimum wage, which is still 20% above minimum wage, and that should be enough. Because, he adds, cleaning will not make you rich. He’s been there, he says. I guess unlike scrubbing floors and toilets, his executive job and paying his staff very little did make him rich. Glad it all worked out for him in the end.

The current Dutch minimum wage, according to Wikipedia, is 8,57 euro. Adding 20% to that bring the total just over 10 euro per hour. Even when taking the currency exchange rates in effect I pay the people that clean my house significantly more than that. I m…