In an attempt to end the deadlock over the proposed raising of the retirement age, the employers' associations VNO-NCW and MKB-Netherlands have proposed raising it in one go from 65 to 67, in fifteen years' time. Everyone who is currently over 50 will be able to stop working at 65, as they had been expecting.

Employers and unions have been engaged in a discussion over the measure since March, when the Dutch government declared that nationwide retirement at 65 would become unaffordable, given the contraction of the working population which finances the pension funds. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's cabinet wants 67 to be the standard retirement age, but has given employers and unions until October to come up with an alternative for the unpopular policy.

Employers now say that upping the departure age to 67 is "unavoidable", after unions accused them of flatly rejecting alternative proposals. The main union federations FNV and CNV are expected to react later on Tuesday.