Proposed reorganisation of Central Bureau of Statistics withdrawn for amendment

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In early April 1999, the Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs announced a large-scale reorganisation plan for the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The establishment in the south of the Netherlands was amongst the hardest hit, with a planned loss of 780 posts. Employees protested vigorously whilst the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament rejected the reorganisation plan and demanded amendments from the Minister.

Shortly before Easter 1999, Annemarie Jorritsma, the Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs, announced a sweeping reorganisation plan for the Central Bureau of Statistics (Centraal Bureau van de Statistiek, CBS). The CBS establishment at Heerlen in the south of the country, which was originally set up to create jobs in the region, was to lose 780 out of 1,100 jobs.

During consultations with the staff though the works council, employees erected a barricade and stormed a busy intersection in front of the CBS office in Heerlen at lunchtime. The office soon became a centre of protest activity, with employees refusing to work and communication with the Ministry shut down. In the evening, the Heerlen municipal council announced its support for the CBS staff, and later the provincial government in Limburg followed suit. CBS is one of the largest employers in Heerlen, where the unemployment level is more than 20%, one of the highest in the entire country. The next day, protesters travelled to The Hague where an emergency debate was being held in the Lower House of the Dutch Parliament. The Minister's proposal encountered severe criticisms from the majority of members of parliament, who believed that the establishment in Heerlen would be disproportionately affected, and that the proposal clashed with the plan to distribute government services evenly throughout the country. The Minister withdrew the plan for amendment.

Employees in the main CBS establishment in The Hague, which would not be affected by the cutbacks, supported the protest and participated in producing an alternative plan, proposing cutbacks of 5% to be imposed on each Ministry and also evenly distributed between Economic Affairs and the CBS. The employees' plan calls for greater efficiency through investing in technology and staff. Increased efficiency is also the official objective of the Minister for Economic Affairs, who will present a revised plan to the Lower House before summer.