Netherlands: FNV explains why its supports the pension reform to its members

The agreement signed on June 4th in The Hague about the pension reform between employers and unions (see our dispatch No. 100454), five days to the legislative elections, angered the FNV’s members. The largest union in the Netherlands has rejected this reform, which aims to bring retirement age from 65 to 67 in two phases, in 2020 and 2025, for a long time. It finally came around because a majority of MPs voted in favor of the law. However, the act hasn’t been adopted and has been in the pipelines since the center-left government fell in February, allowing too much uncertainty for employers. Now, FNV members are wondering why unions agreed with employers to push a reform going against employees’ interest. “If we compare our plan with the current situation, it is of course a step back, and this hurts” agreed Henk van der Kolk. “However, you need to compare our plan with the government’s and the programs presented by some parties, that want to bring retirement age to 67 before 2025, and realize that it hurts less.” The Liberal Party (VVD), presented as the winner of the June 9 elections, recommends increasing retirement age by two months every year, starting in 2007 – reaching 67 in 2023. “On the contrary, unions propose sparing the lowest-paid and the hardest jobs, and ask for a national evaluation of the impact of higher life expectancy after increasing retirement age to 66, to see the modalities to maybe increase it to 67.” Henk van der Kolk is pleading for a realistic attitude, reminding structural information for the labor market: because of ageing, employees already work, in average, one day a week to pay for pensions, “a level which will get to two days a week in a few years if we don’t do anything now.” The FNV and Allies is organizing a round of explanations on the agreement between June 21st and June 23rd across the country, and then the members will vote on the agreement between June 18th and June 30th. Then, the FNV and Allies will discuss with the FNV and make its final decision in early July, about the agreement in principle signed with employers.