Agnes Jongerius, FNV general secretary, gave in to the rules of the democratic game and wants to respect the Parliament’s will. She’s also learning the lessons from a halftone mobilization in November (see our dispatch No. 091069). The demonstrations organized by the FNV against retirement at 67 didn’t get the massive answer she was hoping for. On December 19th, Mrs. Jongerius explained that she was still opposed to the way the current government wants to carry out the increase of retirement age from 65 to 67 between 2020 and 2025. The union wants to keep fighting to “limit, as much as possible, the damage caused by this bad plan” she declared. The FNV blames Minister for Labor and Social Affairs Piet Hein Donner for forgetting to include in his reform single-person businesses with no employees (Zelfstandige zonder personeel – ZZP) for which a solution needs to be found. The debate is still very political in the Netherlands, with the intervention of Geert Wilders, leader of the populist right, who said that the FNV’s change of mind was “incredibly weak.” This political figure promises the cancellation of the reform if he wins a majority and becomes Prime Minister in 2011.
s still very political in the Netherlands, with the intervention of Geert Wilders, leader of the populist right, who said that the FNV’s change of mind was “incredibly weak.”
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