Employers seek to 'circumvent' new Sunday working law through collective agreements

Legislation due to come in force in 2003 will give Dutch employees the right to refuse to work on Sundays. However, the VNO-NCW employers' confederation has advised its members to seek provisions in collective agreements which could prohibit employees from refusing Sunday working. Trade unions have attacked VNO-NCW for what they view as an attempt to circumvent the law through collective agreements.

The 1996 Working Time Act (NL0110102F) removed the Netherlands' previous general ban on Sunday working, which prompted criticism in parliament, both on religious grounds and because Sunday working is considered undesirable by many employees. In 2001, members of parliament belonging to the Christian Democrats (Christen Democratisch Appèl, CDA) and social democratic Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA) put forward a private bill to give employees the right to refuse to work on Sundays. From the outset, employers were clearly opposed to the proposal, but the bill achieved majority backing in both the Upper and Lower Chambers of parliament and will come into effect in 2003.

The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (Vereniging Nederlandse Ondernemers-Nederlands Christelijk Werkgeversverbond, VNO-NCW) has now advised its member organisations to negotiate over the provisions of the new Sunday working legislation in the next collective bargaining round, and to reach agreements providing for alternative arrangements, which could prohibit employees from refusing to work on Sundays. This arguably represents a clear break from the long established atmosphere of cooperation between the social partners regarding working hours.

The two largest trade union federations, the Dutch Trade Union Federation (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, FNV) and the Christian Trade Union Federation (Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond, CNV), responded with disbelief to the advice given by VNO-NCW to its members. They state that an individual employee right, laid down by law, may not be circumvented on the basis of the provisions of collective agreements. This constitutional certainty is, according to the unions, being circumvented by employers under the pretext that the new Sunday working law is unclear and should therefore be clarified further on the basis of provisions to be inserted in collective agreements. However, in the unions' view, formulations that (once again) make it a duty for employees to work on Sundays are in direct conflict with the intention of the new legislation and therefore bear little relation to clarifying it: it is now established by law that employees must consent individually to work on Sundays.

CNV is especially opposed to the move on the part of employers, because the Christian unions ascribe a great deal of importance to Sunday as a special day. The CNV chair, Doeke Terpstra, has called the employers' proposal 'foolish' and stated that it will receive no support from CNV.