In July 2003, private ambulance staff in the Netherlands started industrial action aimed at having their retirement age cut from 59 to 55, in line with public ambulance service employees. Employers unsuccessfully challenged the action in the courts and in September made a final offer aimed at resolving the dispute.
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In July 2003, private ambulance staff in the Netherlands started industrial action aimed at having their retirement age cut from 59 to 55, in line with public ambulance service employees. Employers unsuccessfully challenged the action in the courts and in September made a final offer aimed at resolving the dispute.
Private ambulance service staff launched industrial action on 28 July 2003 in support of demands for a reduction in their retirement age. The action has taken the form of working 'skeleton shifts', which means that ambulance service have responded only to emergency calls.
The private ambulance workers want to reduce their retirement age from the current 59 years to the 55 applicable to their counterparts in the public ambulance service. The two groups of staff perform the same tasks, but public ambulance service staff retire at 55, because their job is considered too demanding to continue up to the age of 59. In order to bridge this gap in employment conditions, the sectoral unions affiliated to the Dutch Trade Union Federation (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV) and the Christian Trade Union Federation (Christelijk Nederlands Vakverbond, CNV), FNV Bondgenoten and CNV Bedrijvenbond, propose that employers lower the private sector retirement age to 57. Employers, however, reject this proposal.
The demand to lower the retirement age runs counter to the Dutch government’s policy of keeping employees at work longer in a bid to deal with the problems presented by an increasingly ageing population. The Ministry of Public Health considers it more logical to raise the age of retirement for public ambulance service employees than to lower it for private employees. The unions are opposed to this. They continue to back the idea that ambulance staff's work is too demanding – both psychologically and physically – to continue to the age of 59.
The employers’ organisation for private ambulance services, Dutch Ambulance Care (Ambulance Zorg Nederland, AZN) applied to the courts on 31 July 2003, demanding that the industrial action be banned. AZN’s main argument was that public safety would be compromised as a result of the action. However, the court ruled that, while the action would perhaps inconvenience or delay patients, this would not be of such a nature as to place public safety at risk. Though AZN argued that relevant procedural rules had been ignored, the court ruled that the industrial action was announced in a timely manner and that a stalemate situation had arisen with respect to the issue of retirement. Procedural rules had not been violated, the court stated. According to AZN, the unions are abusing their right to strike because they are asking the impossible. It is not financially plausible to lower the retirement age, the employers argued. In the proceedings, however, the court remained unconvinced of the extent to which this would be financially implausible. The court thus ruled in favour of the industrial action by the ambulance service staff, but warned the unions to be careful to ensure that potential risks arising from the actions remain within acceptable limits. The court also stated that the unions’ willingness only to discuss safety aspects of the action with AZN would be insufficient to achieve this end.
CNV Ambulance, part of CNV Bedrijvenbond, states that it is trying to find a constructive solution to the ambulance sector dispute. Employers are resolute that they lack the finances needed to meet demands for earlier retirement. To ascertain if this is indeed the case, CNV Ambulance would like to reopen negotiations. CNV Ambulance hopes to find a long-term solution to this matter that will satisfy both its members and the employers, and this need not necessarily involve an earlier retirement arrangement. The employers put a final offer to the unions on 3 September 2003, which the latter will put to their members without a recommendation. Essentially, the offer proposes giving older employees more days of leave and less demanding tasks. The retirement issue is not explicitly referred to in the final offer. The ambulance workers' industrial action committees have given their support to this final offer.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2003), Private ambulance staff take industrial action, article.
