The chair of the FNV trade union federation has rejected a call from the VNO-NCW employers' organisation for a general wage freeze.

Agnes Jongerius said on Thursday that a freeze would adversely affect the economy because people would “stop spending on a massive scale.”

Earlier on Thursday, VNO-NCW Chair Bernard Wientjes urged the unions to join in a national-solidarity accord. He said it was time the unions behaved responsibly to help revive the economy.

However, Ms Jongerius said it was employers who should show solidarity. “Has anyone heard him [Wientjes] talk about an increase in corporate taxes, or the introduction of a bank tax? I don’t think so.”

The FNV says the positions of employers and workers are so far apart, that a national accord to tackle the economic crisis is a long way off.

(gsh/mw)

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