Netherlands: unions to be consulted in the event of amicable termination of the labor contract for a number of employees

Henk Kamp, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, proposed an amendment to the Collective Redundancy (Notification) Act (Wet Melding Collectief Ontslag), which affects layoffs for more than 20 people over three months.  To give unions more weight, the Minister suggested extending the obligation of collective redundancy notification, regardless of the procedure envisaged – amicable, legal or administrative (with the unemployment insurance, UWV).  The current system doesn’t force employers to notify collective redundancies to unions and the UWV only for legal or administrative procedures.  Besides, the current law provides that, if employers and unions reach a social agreement, the UWV automatically accepts the layoff.  With this new amendment, unions are even more certain to have a say, even for the negotiation of amicable layoffs (“met wederzijds goedvinden”) with each employee concerned.  The Federation of Netherlands Unions (FNV) says this practice, which stopped being registered in 2006 by national statistics, greatly increased with the crisis, to reduce the cost and duration of procedures.  For more than ten years, employers have been asking for more flexible regulations on collective redundancies, which were written in 1976.  This reform was supported by the VVD liberal party, which won the last legislative election on June 9, 2010.  The only problem is that Mark Rutte, current liberal premier, had to remove it from the coalition agreement arduously negotiated with the Freedom Party (PVV) of right-wing populist Geert Wilders, who refuses to encroach upon social benefits.