The Dutch Trade Union Federation (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV [1]) has criticised a separate collective agreement concluded for temporary employees from eastern Europe because it may cause unfair competition. The collective agreement was concluded at the beginning of February 2009 by the
The financial crisis hit the Netherlands in August 2008. The sharp economic downturn that followed encouraged the government and social partners to maintain a more united front. Aside from the government’s bank takeovers, which have saved thousands of jobs, the Minister of Social Affairs and
The social partners reached agreement on the country’s dismissal law with the Dutch cabinet in the autumn of 2008. Dismissal law in its current form and the protection it offers will remain the same for 90% of all employees. The dismissal test conducted by the courts, which aims to determine if the
Collective agreements were concluded during the spring of 2008 in various sectors, covering economic activities ranging from university hospitals to light engineering. Several of these deals were prompted by collective industrial action. Major industrial action was undertaken by postal employees
In two years, the number of employees working through ‘/mala fide/’ or fraudulent temporary work agencies has almost doubled. While, in 2006, the figure was 80,000 workers, this irregular practice now involves some 150,000 people a year. More than half of the temporary agency workers from eastern
The traditional autumn consultation between the Dutch cabinet and social partners reached a satisfactory conclusion at the beginning of October 2008. Before starting, the respective parties attached great importance to reaching consensus on the issues arising, especially given the degree of
The spring consultations between the Dutch cabinet and the social partners on socioeconomic plans for the forthcoming year marked the end of a period of tension between the trade unions and cabinet in 2008. Although supported by the employers, the plans put forward by the Minister of Social Affairs
The Dutch government cabinet commissioned the Bakker Committee to resolve the deadlock which had arisen surrounding dismissal legislation (*NL0701039I* [1]). Chaired by TNT Post Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Bakker and comprising scientists and administrators, the committee published its
In April 2008, a report published by the Central Planning Office (Centraal Planbureau, CPB [1]), one of the government’s most important advisory bodies, revealed that the proportion of young people with a disability who are seeking benefits under the provisions of the Disability Insurance (Young
In mid April 2008, the Minister of Education, Ronald Plasterk, concluded a collective agreement with employers and trade unions in the education sector, providing for a supplementary amount of structural funding which will increase to €1.1 billion by 2020. Additionally, about €800 million will go