Netherlands
The ITUC affiliates in the Netherlands are the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond (CNV) and the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV).
Netherlands ratified Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association
freedom of association
The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.
See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in 1950 and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
(1949) in 1993.
Legal
Freedom of association / Right to organise
Freedom of association
The right to freedom of association is enshrined in the Constitution.
Anti-Union discrimination
The law does not specifically protect workers from anti-union discrimination.
Right to collective bargaining
Right to collective bargaining
The right to collective bargaining is recognised by law.
Undermining of the recourse to collective bargaining and his effectiveness
- Absence of appropriate mechanisms to encourage and promote machinery for collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
- Pursuant to article 32, paragraph 2 of the Works Councils Act, employers are free to choose to bargain with the representative trade union or the works council in the enterprise.
Limitations or ban on collective bargaining in certain sectors
- Other categories
- The right to collective bargaining of self-employed workers has been challenged in Dutch and European Courts under the pretext that competition law (more specifically cartel ban) would apply (see FNV Kunsten Informatie en Media v Staat der Nederlanden (2014) C-413/13).
Right to strike
Right to strike
The right to strike is not specifically protected in law, but neither is it explicitly prohibited except for workers in essential services.
In practice
In 2019, a court, which had been petitioned by EasyJet over a collective agreement conflict with the company union
company union
Can be used to describe either an enterprise union or a yellow union.
, granted EasyJet’s request to impose a longer period of notification for strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action, including the nature, duration and time of the protest action. EasyJet then used this delay and information to organise 14 pilots from Belgium to replace the 15 Dutch pilots on strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
and take over their flights. With such practices, EasyJet managed to avoid any flight cancellation and nip the pilots’ protest in the bud.
According to FNV, strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
actions have often been restricted based on frivolous reasons, such as perceived safety risks, inconvenience for travellers, and possible drops in order from an important client.
For instance, a general strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in the public transport sector, which had been announced in due time, was limited by the court at the request of Schiphol Airport authorities, which was not even involved in the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
itself. For purported security reasons, the trade unions were obliged to organise a shuttle train service to the airport against the will of the train personnel. While the court added that this service would not harm the aim and effectiveness of the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, these restrictions significantly reduced the intended impact of the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
.
For FNV, this not only constitutes a violation of article 6.4 of the European Social Charter, but also a violation of the core ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Conventions on freedom of association
freedom of association
The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.
See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
.
FNV denounces the increasing trend to shift from sectoral agreements to company agreements that have the intent of minimising labour costs in return for employability. Companies often use the competitiveness and employability argument with their employees to incite them to accept lower conditions of work at the enterprise level.
FNV further denounces the practice by employers of circumventing collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
with representative unions by negotiating directly with work councils instead. Such attempts have been seen in companies like Ryanair, Transavia, Jumbo Supermarkets, Gall&Gall, Action and Lidl supermarkets. According to FNV, collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
in the Netherlands is eroding as a result.
According to the FNV, while Dutch labour law guarantees to employees protection against dismissal because of their membership with a trade union, the legislation does not protect members of a trade union who are temporary workers or workers with an on-call contract. In practice, companies frequently get rid of trade union members participating in activities for the benefit of FNV.
On numerous occasions Ryanair used threats and intimidation to force its Dutch workers to replace their colleagues on strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in other countries throughout 2018. The refusal of such temporary transfer was treated as gross misconduct, subject to warning, and in case of repeated refusal, with disciplinary dismissal.
Ryanair systematically prevented meaningful negotiations with trade unions by proposing unreasonable terms and conditions and blackmailing with a “take-it-or-leave-it” approach – for example, during negotiations of a redundancy scheme. FME (Employers’ organisation for the Metal and Electronics sector) dragged trade unions into a months-long CBA negotiation process, only to introduce 15 new demands at the concluding meeting. By adding demands that had never been discussed previously, employers’ organisations managed to thwart negotiations and durably affected the trust between the parties.
In 2018, several companies totally overlooked the process of collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
and decided to negotiated directly with employees. Jumbo Supermarkets and Gall & Gall bypassed negotiations with trade unions and pushed for a company agreement signed by the workers’ council. The same tactics were tried by Lidl Supermarkets. Platforms such as Deliveroo, Helpling or Temper persistently opposed any collective negotiations and pushed instead for unilateral regulation of workers’ terms and conditions in individual contracts.
The FNV deplored several incidents of discrimination and intimidation of trade union members that occurred in 2018. In Jumbo Supermarkets an employee and an FNV-shop steward shop steward A union worker who represents the members of a union in dealings with the employer. Often elected by union members who work in the same establishment. got into a fight. Such conduct may be sanctioned by dismissal on disciplinary grounds and an accepted practice is to sanction equally all involved. However, the management took this opportunity to dismiss only the trade union representative. In Deliveroo the management engaged all applicants except the only two applicants who were members of the FNV trade union. Furthermore, the management of Ambulance Netherlands systematically engaged in intimidation of trade union members, while the management of ISS Cleaners targeted every employee who was a trade union member with retaliatory action such as dismissal or transfer to another workplace.
The FNV reported that in 2018 the municipality of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht qualified a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
as an “event”. This qualification implied the application of a different set of laws than the rules on a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action. As a result, an FNV-affiliated trade union that intended to organise a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action needed to ensure compliance with detailed rules on health and safety or face penalties. After a prolonged procedure and many exchanges with the municipality, the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
finally took place. However, FNV considers this type of abusive requalification as a potential obstacle to the effective exercise of the right to strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in the future.
A few years ago, an affiliate of the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) initiated judicial proceedings against the government due to an opinion published by the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMA) discouraging collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
on the terms and conditions of contract labour (that is, work performed by individuals who do not necessarily work under the strict authority of the employer and who may have more than one workplace). On 1 September 2015 the Court of Appeal of The Hague issued a decision, pursuant to which competition law does not preclude a collective agreement from requiring an employer to apply the provisions of the collective agreement to self-employed workers, in particular to apply certain (minimum) rates.
Despite this ruling the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM, which replaces the NMA) still refuses to acknowledge more broadly the collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
rights of self-employed workers who work side by side with regular employees, denying both those workers and the employees a fair income and allowing or even promoting underbidding. This position is in clear contravention with ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
standards, in particular ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Convention no. 98. In this regard, the ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
has recently recalled to the Dutch government that the right to collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
should also cover organisations representing self-employed workers.
The Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) has reported that in 2017 several employers deliberately circumvented collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
with the representative unions and favoured the conclusion of agreements with work councils. This practice is in contravention of ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Convention no. 98 and devoids collective bargaining
collective bargaining
The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
See collective bargaining agreement
and collective agreements of all legitimacy and credibility.
In February 2017 workers staged a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
at Recticel, a manufacturing company producing flexible foams, insulation, bedding and automotive. Later that year the management retaliated against strikers by giving end-of-year bonuses to workers who had not participated in the strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
.
Retaliatory measures are not uncommon in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) has reported that in November 2017, workers of Buigcentrale Steenbergen, a steel manufacture, organised a strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
. After the protest, several workers who had participated in it observed changes in their work orders akin to a demotion.
FNV has also expressed concern regarding the increasing use of temporary workers to break strikes. While this practice is forbidden in the Netherlands, the FNV deplores the fact that no penal sanction (e.g., fine) is applied to employers who contravene the law. This is all the more worrying, as there is a lack of monitoring by the Labour Inspectorate. In practice, employers can easily prevent the consequences of a legitimate strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
while seriously compromising workers’ right to strike
strike
The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
.