Join Labour Day celebrations, get tons of money, and more | May 2026
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Labour Day 2026 #
Join Techwerkers this Friday 1 May, 1:00 pm at Museumplein in Amsterdam to celebrate Labour Day! Test your meshcore device, play a game of AI bingo, browse through stickers and zines, or just chat with other people in tech in the Netherlands. Will you be there? 😀
Long-term agency work? Permanent contract! #
Have you been doing agency work with the same company for 36 months or more? Then you’re entitled to a permanent contract. A court in The Hague came to this verdict in a case brought by worker Paweł Rudzki against supermarket chain Albert Heijn.
Rudzki had been working for Albert Heijn since June 2018, but always through an agency (which also withheld part of his wages). However, European law states that agency work must be temporary, not permanent. This means that Albert Heijn misused agency work to avoid giving workers a permanent contract. Albert Heijn must now give Rudzki a permanent contract and all the wages he has missed out on since 2021.
Have you been working through an agency or on a temporary contract for longer than 36 months? Then this ruling has consequences for you as well. Need some help asserting your rights? Contact Techwerkers.
Upcoming events #
Want to hang out with other tech workers? Join one of the upcoming events:
- 1 May, 1:00 pm - Labour Day with Techwerkers! Museumplein, Amsterdam
- 8 May, 3:00-3:30 pm - Friday Fika, online
- 9 May, 1:00 pm - Actifest, Amsterdam (external event)
- 9 May, 8:30 am - Attend Dutch Clojure Days together, Weesp (external event)
- 11 May, 7:00 pm - Organizing meetup, online
- 15 May, 3:00-3:30 pm - Friday Fika, online
- 18-23 May - Attend Rust Week together, Utrecht (external event)
- 22 May, 3:00-3:30 pm - Friday Fika, online
- 25 May, 7:00 pm - Organizing meetup, online
- 26 May, 7:00 pm - Book club (title to be confirmed), online
- 29 May, 3:00-3:30 pm - Friday Fika, online
Keep an eye on the events calendar for the latest info.
New resource #
Getting fired? Here is what you need to do to get a shit ton of money #
Your bosses will always try to squeeze every last bit of value out of you as a worker. Here’s how to do the same if you’re at risk of getting fired. This article was too hot 🔥 for Reddit.
On the radar #
The following news items were on the Techwerkers radar recently:
- Dutch companies must offer wage transparency to prospective and current workers, starting 1 June 2026.
- Fascism is funded by big tech money, and more insights from the recent Cables of Resistance conference in Berlin (in German).
- Is the tide turning? Fintech company TradeRepublic says goodbye to AI chatbots and hires 1,000 workers for its customer support.
- Zero-hour contracts will be banned in the Netherlands from 1 January 2027 onwards.
- Microsoft will correct geographical references to Palestine on the maps across all its platforms, and remove misleading names for the West Bank, Palestinian think tank 7amleh reports.
- Highly sensitive medical data of likely at least 218,000 people in the Netherlands (ca. 1.2% of the population) was captured in a ransomware attack on ChipSoft, which delivers software to Dutch healthcare institutions. No fine or operational ban on the company has been confirmed.
- How difficult is it to break free from tech giants? Get started yourself, or together with Techwerkers!
That’s all for now. See you on May Day! ✊