First victory against OTTO Workforce

After our protest at the main office of OTTO Workforce in Venray on Monday March 21st the initial results are in. During this action 20 people got arrested, which caused a local disturbance and received a lot of media attention. Because of this protest, OTTO director Frank van Gool, was forced to give in to some of the demands of the company’s ex-workers.


We know now that P. finally got his back pay and part of the fines returned. A different ex-worker also received a big part of his back pay. Further, it has been confirmed that two other ex-workers, which were in contact with the Vrije Bond and the ZSP, also have collected money from OTTO. Though we must admit that in some cases only a portion of the total demanded amounts have been paid back. We won’t give in until all the money has been returned.

Frank van Gool has agreed orally that he will improve workers’ accommodations. We will keep a close eye on this! On the other hand, Van Gool is still denying that the company uses a fine system. He also claims that the above-mentioned cases are only ‘incidents’. We strongly doubt this. OTTO still has the rule that workers are not allowed to talk about their experiences with OTTO – a consequence of breaking this rule will result in a fine of 1000 Euros. So it’s no wonder that until now only a few workers dared to stand up for themselves and make their complaints known to the outside world.

The campaign of the Vrije Bond, ZSP and Priama Akcia has shown thus far that fighting for your rights pays off! There are visible effects when workers organize and unite against exploitation. That’s why we call up all (ex-)workers of OTTO to make their complaints known through a special e-mail address: ottoslaveforce@gmail.com. Or contact the Vrije Bond, the ZSP or Priama Akcia.

Our campaign against OTTO will continue until all our demands have been met!

Our demands are:

• To put an end to the fine and penalty system for OTTO workers;
• Oral and contractual promises should be delivered;
• Improved accommodation for workers for a lower rent;
• Travel costs should be paid by OTTO and not by the workers;
• To put an end to the 500 Euro fine for ending the contract early by the worker;
• To stop fining the workers who talk about their experiences with OTTO to others.

For more information:

http://zsp.net.pl (Polish)
http://www.priamaakcia.sk (Slovak)
http://www.vrijebond.nl (Dutch)

Anarchistische Groep Amsterdam/de Vrije Bond