Trade unions FNV and CNV are ending their discussions with the cabinet about social security. This is what FNV chairman Hans Spekman and Hans van den Heuvel of the CNV said on Thursday after a meeting with the cabinet at the Catshuis. Because the government does not want to wipe out all proposed cuts to the unemployment benefit and the WIA, the unions are taking strike action.
There is great dissatisfaction among the unions about the cutback plans of the Jetten cabinet in the field of social security. Minister Hans Vijlbrief of Social Affairs and Employment therefore expressed his willingness on Tuesday to review those plans and enter into discussions with the unions.
Although that conversation went constructively on Thursday, according to Spekman and Van den Heuvel, they heard “no unconditional yes” from the cabinet on Thursday to the unions’ demands, according to Spekman. That is why the unions are taking strike action. This concerns the demands that the increase in the state pension age and the proposed cuts to the unemployment benefit and the WIA must be definitively off the table. “That means that there will be actions […] because we see no other way.”
Coen van Oostrom of the VNO-NCW business organization says he is ‘disappointed’ that the unions no longer want to talk to the cabinet. He sees sufficient “points of departure” and believes that the cabinet has offered “great openings” to the unions.
When asked, Minister Vijlbrief says that he expects the unions to eventually come back to the table. “I think they (the unions, ed.) want to strengthen their argument. That is also their instrument and that is allowed. But at some point we will start talking to each other again.”
Prime Minister Rob Jetten also called the talks “substantive and constructive”. According to him, the cabinet and the unions are “closer to each other than many previously thought”, but, he admits, “we are not there yet”. Jetten promises that the government will continue to work on “good” proposals for job security and more investment power for entrepreneurs. He hopes that employers and employees will quickly resume discussions and that the announced protest actions will have a limited impact on society. “We have provided very clear assistance as a government [en] are also ready to intensify the substantive discussions with them.”
With the cooperation of Anikó de Geest from The Hague
