Netherlands - Basic agreement reached on pension age - May 29, 2010

The main employers federations and union confederations have reached a basic national agreement on increasing the pension age, a main issue of disagreement between employers, unions and government in 2009. The new accord provides for lifting the current age for state and company pensions (which, unlike the current situation, will be linked) from 65 to 66 years by 2020. Depending on the general life expectancy, each next five years the pension age will be revised again. Individual earlier retirement remains possible, but will cost 6.5% per year. State pensions will no longer be based on negotiated but on real wages. The trade union constituencies still have to be balloted over the agreement, most likely via polling all members. The accord may play a role in the formation of a new government after the 9 June parliamentary elections. A number of political parties have welcomed the agreement, though the centre-right parties made some reservations and the Socialist Party (SP) opposes each increase of the retirement age (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 July-August, September, October and November 2010).

Dutch: De Volkskrant, May 29, 2010; NRC-Handelsblad, May 29, 2010

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.