Employers, unions and the Dutch government will finalise pension agreements on Friday in the Labour Foundation building in The Hague. Under the new system, pension age will be raised from 65 to 66 in 2020.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte called it “something unique in the Netherlands that agreement has been reached for hundreds of billions of euros and perhaps the biggest change to the pension system since World War II'.'
He added that the FNV could be proud of the outcome and praised the FNV federation of unions’ chairperson Agnes Jongerius as a negotiator who knows exactly what she wants. He stressed that the cabinet negotiates with the federation and not with individual unions.
However, even if the three delegations reach agreement, the changes will only become definitive after it has been accepted by the membership of the unions. The agreement has been reached after fierce debate.
There is disagreement within the FNV trade union federation, FNV Bondgenoten is advising its members to vote against the agreement. FNV Bondgenoten represents workers in the agricultural, industrial, service, trade and passenger transport sectors.
(nc/hs)
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