Dispute between management and works council in Employment Service
Published: 27 March 1999
The central works council of the Dutch Employment Service has withdrawn its support from management. The move was taken in March 1999, against the backdrop of an impending reorganisation following a string of earlier reorganisations.
Download article in original language : NL9903129NNL.DOC
The central works council of the Dutch Employment Service has withdrawn its support from management. The move was taken in March 1999, against the backdrop of an impending reorganisation following a string of earlier reorganisations.
The central works council and the management of the Employment Service (Arbeidsvoorziening), the organisation responsible for employment offices in the Netherlands, are in dispute over a proposed reorganisation. In March 1999, the Employment Service announced plans to cut some 500 jobs in an attempt to cushion the blow arising from the 1999 budget deficit. The deficit stands at around NLG 300 million, some 20% of the entire budget.
Employment offices in the Netherlands employ a total of 9,000 people. The national management board has drawn up a balanced budget for 1999, and has ordered the 18 regional boards to follow suit. Only half have managed to achieve this objective.
On 6 March, the central works council called for the board's resignation. According to a spokesperson, the council had already voiced its concern over the management's financial policy on several previous occasions. The civil servants' union, AbvaKabo, publicly supports the central works council's stance. It was announced on 19 March that former Minister Wil Albeda and the head of the Centre for Labour Relations (Centrum Arbeidsverhoudingen, CAOP) will act as mediators in the dispute.
The Employment Service has been under constant reorganisation for a number of years now, and several disputes between management boards and works councils have ended in court. Employment offices will be facing further drastic changes over the years to come, and it was announced in late 1998 that most offices would in fact be privatised.
The central works council's vote of no confidence will have no formal consequences for the management. Although Dutch law stipulates that works councils must be consulted on the appointment and dismissal of board members, employers are not obliged to follow up on their recommendations. In practice, however, the works council's stance sometimes has a marked effect. For example, the resignation of the chair of the management board at the insurance company Nuts Ohra on 10 March 1999 was partly due to a vote of no confidence on the part of the works council.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1999), Dispute between management and works council in Employment Service, article.
