Thousands of people joined a protest march through the capital, called by the country’s two largest unions to demonstrate against a series of Government reforms. According to the unions OGBL and LCGB, over 25,000 people took part in the demonstration. At the heart of the demonstrators’ grievances was the pension reform proposed by the Government, but the OGBL and LCGB also oppose the reform of collective agreement procedures challenging the union prerogative to negotiate collective agreements, changes to Sunday work and working hours, and the implementation of the European Directive on Minimum Wages. After the demonstration the Prime Minister announced his willingness to discuss alternative proposals from the unions.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.