Putters is a scientist and professor in health care governance in Rotterdam. He was also a member of the Senate for the PvdA. Putters became famous when he became director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office in 2013. This researches how things are going culturally and socially in the Netherlands.
Putters turned out to be in that role, according to de Volkskrant, the most influential Dutchman. He made the inequality of opportunity in the Netherlands the core theme of the SCP research. Putters himself is an example of emancipation. As the son of an inland skipper, he rose from secondary school to university, and he grants that to everyone: the opportunity to proliferate with your talents.
This resulted in high-profile publications. Does the government still act as guardian of the vulnerable? For example, the SCP established in 2019 that the Participation Act did not function properly for the people for whom it is intended, such as people who have a disability from an early age and therefore cannot find a job.
As SCP director, Putters already became a member of the Social and Economic Council in 2017. The council consists of three groups with representatives from trade unions, employers and independent experts, the crown members. The crown members are appointed by the cabinet, but the SCP, the Central Planning Bureau and De Nederlandsche Bank send a delegate anyway. In addition, the cabinet appoints experienced former politicians and scientists as crown members.
Heart of the polder
The SER is the embodiment of the Dutch polder model. Since 1950, the council has advised on various social and economic policies. The idea is that a joint analysis of a problem, followed by a unanimous advice on the solution, supported by the social partners and the independent crown members, provides support for successful cabinet policy.
Practice is often more unruly. In politics, SER recommendations are sometimes interpreted as dictated by which the bill is thrown over the fence to the state treasury. Take the advice on the reform of the disability legislation from 2002. That went wrong after all when the cabinet tightened up the details and the trade union movement still came up – in vain – in vain. It resulted in 2004 in the largest trade union demonstration ever.
That was also the beginning of a chilly period in the relationship between the trade union movement on the one hand and employers and the cabinet on the other. The polder model was repeatedly declared nearly dead. The coma lasted until 2013. Then the Rutte II cabinet needed the support of the trade union movement and employers for the reform plans to help the Netherlands out of the financial crisis.
The other camps also had reasons to see each other again. The trade union movement, led by the FNV, was in crisis due to constant internal quarrels about the future of pensions. And employers wanted peace of mind and political stability in turbulent economic times.
Hammers legacy
Although that agreement on the reforms was concluded outside the SER in 2013, it did affect the relations. The beginning of the real breakthrough within the council was the appointment of PvdA MP Mariëtte Hamer as chairman. Starting out as a meeting tiger, she turned out to be an extremely successful chairperson. She gradually succeeded in adopting pioneering, unanimous advice on the pension system and the rules surrounding work – the labor market. The feverish polder consultations about corona and dealing with the economic consequences did the rest: the polder is functioning again.
That is the legacy that Putters will soon find when he officially takes office. His advantage is that he himself has experienced the last five years as a crown member. He knows the proportions, knows what he is getting into. And he knows the themes. In fact, all subjects he researched at the SCP are discussed again at the SER. From inequality of opportunity and the consequences of the corona crisis, the housing market, the energy transition, education, the earthquake damage in Groningen to the benefits scandal.
The motivation that Putters takes with him from the SCP fits in wonderfully with this, always revolving around the one question: does the government still function as guardian of the weakest, the vulnerable in society? Can you still give them a push in the back?
What can play tricks on him is the economic situation. The relationship between trade unions and employers is already tense due to the tight labor market and sky-high inflation. If that remains the case for a while, and the cabinet does not support purchasing power, sky-high wage demands from the trade union movement threaten. Then the tension in the SER building will automatically increase and a lot of Putter’s mediating qualities will soon be demanded.