Netherlands: extension of short-time working in exchange for wage moderation

On March 11, Piet Hein Donner, Minister for Social Affairs and Labor, met with the social partners to propose the following agreement: extending short-time working (Deeltijd WV-v, see our dispatch No. 091123) in exchange for the extension of the principle of wage moderation, agreed to by all the employees in the country at the end of 2008. A great majority of the €950 million planned for short-time working is still available. By using this system as a negotiating instrument, Piet Hein Donner might be faced with the refusal of unions, who thinks that the principle of wage moderation isn’t respected for high wages and managers. Piet Hein Donner agreed with them, proposing to add stricter conditions to short-time working. Businesses paying bonuses to their managers wouldn’t be entitled to the system. Unions protested, notably against ASML, which gave its managers bonuses while it was on short-time working. Anyway, this Federation of Dutch Unions (FNV), the Netherlands’ key union, thinks this system isn’t enough. Leo Hartveld, from FNV, said Donner proposes “insane conditions which won’t work because they will be avoid.” Employers haven’t said anything yet.