Expatica news

Dutch news in brief – 16 July 2004

Dutch firm introduces 40-hour week

Office supplies producer Smead Europe has become the first company in the Netherlands to extend the working week from 36 to 40 hours. The trade unions are furious as the employees will not get extra money, newspaper Trouw reported Friday. Union officials are also worried other companies will follow suit.

Consumers buy less in May

Consumers spent less in the month of May, with sales down 0.6 percent compared with the same period in 2003, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Friday. For the first time this year, consumption of food, cigarettes and drink rose by 0.4 percent on last year, while sales of durable goods (furniture, clothing and shoes) were down 4 percent.
 
Social welfare fraud at sex shops

Social welfare investigators uncovered EUR 27,000 worth of benefit fraud during a review of brothels in Haarlem. Most of the fraud related to prostitutes who received a benefit without declaring their work in a sex club. Officials examined the books of 22 licensed sex club owners. Offenders had there benefits reduced and in some cases withdrawn, Novum news agency reported.

Erection pill not covered by health insurance

Health Minister Hans Hoogervorst has decided men proscribed with an erection pill after a prostate operation will have to pay for the medication themselves. He rejected a plea by Bayer, manufacturer of the Levitra pill, to include it in the health insurance package ziekenfonds. The minister expressed concern that doing so could cost millions. He also noted that erection difficulties were not a life threatening condition and that other treatments were available and covered by health insurance.

[Copyright Expatica News 2004]

Subject: Dutch news