Netherlands -Unions remain divided over pension accord -September 1, 2011

In early July, the FNV union confederation refrained from a referendum of its own among the 1.4 million members of its affiliates, concerning the basic accord the three union confederations agreed with government and employers’ associations in June, that will see the pension age increased from 65 to 66 in 2020 and then to 67 in 2025. For the time being, the two largest FNV affiliates oppose the pension accord. The private sector union, FNV Bondgenoten, takes the strongest stand. A referendum in July-August organised by FNV Bondgenoten, in which 23% of membership took part, resulted in 95% opposing the accord. Public services union FNV Abvakabo currently takes a “no, unless” position, with the “unless” clause focusing on repairing the income fall of 6.5% for those who still want to retire at 65.  Both unions regard the concessions the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Henk Kamp, made in August in this direction as largely insufficient. On 12 September the final decision-making on the basic accord in the FNV confederation will take place.

Dutch: NRC-Handelsblad, 5 July , 15 and 30 August 2011; De Volkskrant, 24 and 31 August 2011;

http://www.abvakabofnv.nl/Thema%27s/aow/?OverviewType=Nieuwsbericht&id ...

http://www.fnvbondgenoten.nl/nieuws/nieuwsarchief/2011/augustus ...

 

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 at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.

 

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