My friends are currently working in holland and are not very happy because they were promised Euro 5 an hour but they are paid only 3.21 Euro after tax + free accommodation (for 18 yrs old) and 4.01 Euros for others (without a room).
You didn't happen to forget that pay in NL is always mentioned
before tax? So if these guys get 5 Euro/hr, they indeed will get sth of 4 Euros or less, given the fact that NL knows a taxation of about 33 to 37 per cent. And since it's including accomodation, they should not be complaining at all. They probably don't speak Dutch and since it's probably some low level job, it's like that. Actually, it's correct as 37 per cent of 5 Euro is 1,85. So they shouldn't complain at all. They are getting their 5 Euros. And besides, I don't believe that in Australia low level work like that will pay 20 bucks after tax.
Edit: Again, wages are always mentioned before tax in NL as they are in most countries in the world. Given the nature of their stay they pay 35.8 per cent, which makes sense.
>^..^<
M-G (coffee break)