Migrant workers employed by Saints & Stars gym chain claimed incidents of physical and verbal abuse. They have also claimed they have been working excessive hours and being made to sleep in a shared bed with co-workers who were strangers.
Eleven Filipino migrant workers have sharply criticized the decision of the Dutch Public Prosecution Office to dismiss their labor exploitation complaints against Amsterdam-based Saints & Stars Gym.
In a press conference on Thursday, (October 30), some of the complainants, together with the migrant rights group, Migrante-Netherlands, called the ruling "a grave injustice" and warned of its dangerous implications for migrant worker protections.
The workers, who previously reported being deceived into traveling to the Netherlands under false promises of legal documentation and fair employment conditions, shared accounts of grueling workdays of up to 12 hours, unpaid or underpaid wages, lack of proper breaks, and inhumane, cramped living conditions.
One of the complainants, who asked to be called Lynnette Cruz, said that their passports were confiscated under the pretense of having to acquire proper visa and work documents.
Cruz also claimed that she would be made to clean the gym's sauna while it was still operating, forcing her to clean in 80-degree heat. "I could hardly breathe," she said.
Migrante Netherlands, a migrant workers' advocacy group, expressed outrage at the ruling of the Openbaar Ministerie (OM), the Dutch Public Prosecution office.
"How can this not be exploitation?" Garry Martinez, chairperson of Migrante Europe and a survivor of human trafficking, said.
Migrante and the complainants argued that the OM decision ignores evidence of coercion, deception, and abuse that they believe satisfy both Dutch and international legal definitions of human trafficking.
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Insulting
In a statement, the OM said that review of 11 reports filed by the guest employees who worked as cleaners, showed "no evidence of labor exploitation".
"This means that the suspicion of human trafficking, which constitutes labor exploitation, has been dropped in the criminal investigation. The investigation into human smuggling and forgery continues unabated," the statement read.
"The OM decision is an insult and an attack against the rights of workers in general, and in particular, to our fellow Filipinos formerly employed by Saints & Stars," Martinez said.
In a statement, Tom Moos, Saints & Stars CEO, said, "Based on what we know at this stage, the reality diverges significantly from how the situation has been portrayed. While finding skilled cleaners has been a challenge, it is our company policy that everyone who works with us should be paid fairly and treated with respect. To our knowledge, every hour worked has been compensated. We have always acted in good faith and complete alignment with our values."
Moos added that the management team overseeing cleaning operations has been suspended and the company has initiated the process of appointing an independent research organization to conduct a thorough and objective review as "a necessary step toward full accountability."
Cruz said that the response from Saints & Stars was frustrating. "They can deny all they want, but they cannot erase what we went through. We did not receive proper night differential or overtime pay, and some of us were not paid at all. We fight this until the end."
Andrew, one of the workers, claimed: "We were treated like slaves, with no respect for our rights as employees. We were not allowed to complain, and even small mistakes like missing a spot while cleaning would get us scolded. We were not allowed to rest. If they saw us resting, we would be yelled at."
Migrante and the workers urged Open Bar Ministry to review its decision and called on the Philippine government to hold Saints & Stars accountable. The group is planning to hold a protest outside the OM building in the coming days.
A GoFundMe account to support the workers was set up by Tahanan Migrante, an organization that supports Filipino migrants in the Netherlands, and has raised over 40,000 euros.
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Anonymous tips prompted investigation
An inspection of the Amsterdam gym chain in June 2025 prompted a full investigation into the working conditions of the Saints & Stars employees.
According to an in-depth report by the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool, the Dutch Labor Inspectorate received anonymous tips about the alleged maltreatment of the foreign workers at the gym. These tips triggered a series of raids, which found 23 Filipino and Indonesian nationals did not have proper documentation. Two undocumented workers were reportedly removed.
"Indications of labor exploitation, no matter how minor, are always investigated," the Openbaar Ministerie, which serves as the public prosecution's office in the Netherlands said in a statement.
Citing interviews with employees and a review of chat logs and photos, Het Parool reported the head of housekeeping, would allegedly shout at the guest workers, sometimes in front of the other employees and customers.
There was also reportedly verbal abuse in some group chats and at least two foreign workers reported physical abuse.
A gym that feels like a nightclub
Saints & Stars gym in Amsterdam's historic and touristic canal district, Lijnbaansgracht, opened in late May with pomp and pagentry. Het Parool reported that trams were supposedly plastered with announcements featuring models and high-profile fitness influencers. The gym had nightclub blue interiors and offered amenities such as Dyson hairdryers, which cost hundreds of euros, and a premium Leif conditioner, which costs about 33 euros for a 500 milliliter bottle.
About five kilometers away, the eleven Filipino cleaners and gym employees were meanwhile allegedly housed in a multimillion-euro villa registered under Moos' name. However, they reportedly did not experience any luxury or comfort. They were crammed into four bedrooms, often sharing beds with strangers or sleeping on the floor in walk-in closets, they claimed.
Treated as hands, not as people
In his dissertation By Invisible Hands: Work, Exploitation, and the Migrant Division of Labor, a PhD researcher at the Erasmus School of Law Ruben Timmerman exposed what he calls a "rotten system" that enables the abuse of migrant workers.
Timmerman argued that exploitation tends to be part of a structural system where companies and employment agencies systematically evade responsibility. Through his own experience working for five temporary employment agencies, Timmerman observed that migrant workers are frequently underpaid, required to perform dangerous and untrained tasks, and live in substandard, inhumane conditions. Pay slips are often missing, overtime goes unpaid, and confusion over wages is constant.
Further, Timmerman criticized the "strategic ignorance" of large companies that deliberately remain unaware of labor abuses in their supply chains. By outsourcing job vacancies to multiple employment agencies and often operating through layers of subcontractors, companies can distance themselves from direct accountability for unsafe or exploitative practices. Migrant workers, he writes, are reduced to "hands" rather than treated as human beings.
This structure has created a deeply unequal labor market in which Dutch workers enjoy stability and protections, while migrants tend to be trapped in insecure, low-wage jobs.
Timmerman calls for sweeping reforms that include tighter regulation of employment agencies, fewer intermediaries, and permanent contracts for long-term roles.
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