The Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Henk Kamp, has rejected the re-introduction of the state part-time unemployment scheme for the time being, as a means to avoid a steep rise of unemployment through topping up the wages of workers working reduced hours. The former part-time unemployment scheme was in operation for just over two years and faded out by July 2011. According to Kamp, the scheme is only relevant in a real crisis, which would not actually be the case in the Netherlands. Moreover, a spokeswoman of the minister suggested that other schemes might be more appropriate. In the course of November the minister has become under pressure of the two large employers’ associations, a number of single employers, and the largest trade union confederation, FNV, all arguing in favour of the re-introduction of the scheme. FNV chairwoman Agnes Jongerius said that in particular in the metal and construction industries it is highly important to keep skilled and experienced workers on board, and pointed at the positive experience with the scheme during the 2009-2010 crisis.
Dutch : De Volkskrant, 24 and 29 November 2011;
http://nos.nl/artikel/315954-kamp-nog-geen-deeltijdww.html
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. or the communications officer of the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.