Netherlands - Declining bargaining coverage due to lower employer density - June 30, 2024

A report by the research institute for the Dutch trade union movement de Burcht analyses the decline of the bargaining coverage rate from 75.8% in 2020 to 71.8% in 2022. The analysis is based on recent figures of Statistics Netherlands and interviews with representatives of trade unions and employers’ associations in various industries. The report concludes that declining membership of employers’ associations is the main cause of the decline of the coverage rate. Although there are no reliable figures on employers’ density (i.e. the share of employees in companies that are member of an employers’ association), the fact that an increasing proportion of employees is covered through the mandatory extension of industry collective agreements indicates that employer density is declining. This is due to the fact that new and rapidly growing companies often do not join an employers’ association.

Read on: in Dutch… Read on the report: in Dutch…

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.