Public broadcasting strike results in collective agreement

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Trade unions and employers in the Dutch public broadcasting sector finally signed a new 21-month collective agreement on 18 March 1999, following unconventional industrial action consisting of adverts and a number of brief blackouts on radio and television. The agreement reflects most of the unions' demands.

Employees in public radio and television broadcasting companies in the Netherlands started campaigning in favour of their claim in the current collective bargaining round on 10 March 1999. Radio and television broadcasts were interrupted by messages to the effect that good terms of employment mean good programmes, followed by several minutes of silence. Employers protested against the campaign tactics. The pressure on employers mounted after a number of days, when activists announced that they would halve the number of news broadcasts and current affairs programmes on radio and television in the run-up to a complete strike: the three Dutch public broadcasting channels (Nederland 1, 2 and 3) would go off the air on 23 March. The threat of broadcasting schedules being halved from 19 March proved sufficient. A collective agreement was signed for the sector's 5,000 employees on the night of 18 March. It will last 21 months, backdated to 1 July 1998, and expire on 1 April 2000.

Although January and February 1999 saw the trade unions and other employers elsewhere in the media sector reach agreements on comparable wage demands, negotiations in public sector broadcasting ran aground in March. Employers rejected the demand for a backdated 6% wage increase spread over the past two years, and vehemently opposed the unions' call to offer the sector's several thousand temporary employees a permanent employment contract after three years. The employers were willing to offer such a contract only after a five-year employment period. New legislation on temporary contracts further exacerbated the dispute. For years it has been standard practice in the broadcasting sector to offer temporary employees a nine-month contract, lay them off for the summer period (during which time they would receive state benefits) and rehire them in September. However, benefit agencies have ceased to accept such practices since the introduction of the Flexibility and Security Act on 1 January 1999 (NL9901117F).

Employers broke off negotiations on 17 March after the unions involved - FNV Kiem, CNV Media and the NVJ journalists' union - rejected their final offer of a 4% wage increase. The unconventional strike tactics, which directly affected the media and the general public, were most likely an important factor in the employers' decision to meet union demands after 48 hours. The 6% rise originally demanded by the unions was bargained down to 5.75%, backdated to 1 July 1998. The period before temporary contracts become permanent was reduced to three years, in line with union demands.