Trade unions issue state ultimatum to delay heavy work regulations

The current Early Retirement Scheme (RVU) expires at the end of next year. People who do heavy work for a long time can therefore retire earlier. They are then entitled to a benefit to bridge the period until the state pension age. Currently, the scheme is only available to employees born between 1955 and 1961. The group may stop working up to three years before the state pension age to make use of the RVU.

The unions have argued for a structural arrangement, especially because, according to the unions, this has also been agreed in the Pension Agreement signed by the government. The scheme must also be broader, Rietman explains. “The tax exemption is now so low that it is not financially feasible for most people to stop earlier. People from our supporters are exhausted: they have broken knees or a disturbed rhythm, but they still have to continue.”

First actions

Negotiations on a new arrangement with employers’ organizations collapsed in December, but no progress has been made since then, according to FNV director Piet Rietman. With the ultimatum, Rietman hopes that the State will “take a step forward”.

If this does not happen, the first actions will start in May and June. These will still be small-scale in the form of work interruptions of a few hours, Rietman explains. But in the long term, he believes, these actions could develop into “strikes that will disrupt the Dutch economy more.”

Coalition agreement

Sectors where these actions will take place include construction, police, public transport and ports. “We want to give the new cabinet another chance to come up with something. But if nothing is arranged in the coalition agreement, several strikes will follow that will also be longer lasting,” said Rietman.

To prevent an escalation of the actions, the unions are now passing the ball to the government. “But she sits on the lap of the employers,” says Rietman. “The State continues to say that the unions must first reach an agreement with the employers. But we have been outspoken for a long time.”

“We will invite employers and trade unions to the table in the short term to discuss measures to help people retire healthily,” says a spokesperson for Minister Schouten in response to the ultimatum, which expires on May 14 at 4:30 PM.