The latest collective agreements, which were concluded in the spring of 2009, are more economical than those concluded in the winter of 2008–2009. According to the General Industrial Employers’ Association (Algemene Werkgevers Vereniging Nederland, AWVN [1]), which conducts negotiations for 850
The Dutch Hospitals Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen, NVZ [1]) and trade unions in the healthcare sector reached an agreement in principle in April 2009 on a new, two-year collective agreement for 190,000 hospital employees. The two trade unions concerned are the civil servants’
To help businesses to survive the recession, a new scheme came into effect on 1 April 2009, enabling companies to apply for part-time unemployment benefit for some of their employees. The government will offer companies in financial difficulties the option of rendering their employees unemployed for
In 2008, it continued to be the case that 75% of all women working in the Netherlands hold part-time positions and that their working week has not been extended. Moreover, the ‘2008 Emancipation Monitor’ (/Emancipatiemonitor/) under the remit of the Social and Cultural Planning Office (Sociaal en
While the postal services market must be deregulated by 1 January 2011, the Dutch cabinet hopes to bring this date forward if there are sufficient prospects for good terms and conditions of employment being established at the new postal companies Sandd [1] and Selekt Mail [2]. According to Labour
Following weeks of deliberation, the Dutch cabinet and social partners reached consensus on the cabinet’s crisis package, with the social partners supporting the government’s proposals. The social partners also had to reach agreement between them. In this regard, the trade unions needed to restrict
In February 2009, the Dutch House of Representatives (/Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal/) urged the Minister for Finance, Wouter Bos, to negotiate a gentlemen’s agreement with the banks to tighten remuneration policy at executive level. The House of Representatives is particularly alarmed by the
Against a backdrop of economic recession, the government has put forward two highly controversial proposals: to scrap the mortgage interest rate deduction and to raise the retirement age. The proposals have come in the run-up to the government’s spring financial report and budget, as well as its
At the end of December 2008, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid, SZW [1]) submitted a legislative proposal to the Dutch House of Representatives (/Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal/) directed at holding companies that hire temporary workers
In January 2009, the Minister for Social Affairs and Employment, Piet Hein Donner, joined forces with the social partners in a bid to make use of the economic crisis as an opportunity to modernise the labour market. The country’ s three biggest trade union federations were involved – the Federatie