Ruling parties split on jobs plan

Coalition party VVD has said that the jobs plan presented by labour unions earlier this week is an "idiotic" plan that destroys jobs, and is therefore unspeakable. VVD-faction president Halbe Zijlstra says in an interview with De Telegraaf that the PvdA should also take distance from the proposals.

"If you are called the Labour Party, then you cannot be behind this plan", Zijlstra said. Labor unions FNV, CNV and VCP launched a proposal this week that would create 300,000 jobs by reducing the burdens on labour. The plan also proposes that the old-age pension (AOW) age shall not be raised, and that the elderly should work less.

In order to pay for this, assets can be taxed more, and company profits can be skimmed. PvdA MP Hamer told the Cabinet in a reaction that the 'spearhead' ideas of this proposal should be taken up in the budget for next year.

According to Zijlstra, these spearhead points disagree with the main stances under which the VVD and PvdA operate as political parties. He believes that the PvdA reacted a little too excitedly about this proposal, and that the two parties would collide if this plan were to be considered seriously.

The VVD-faction president believe that the unions reason from within a 'defeats strategy'. "It's all from the thought that we will never have economic growth again, that the cake will remain as it is now. Our efforts are actually to make the cake bigger again. If there is more prosperity, then there is also more to share. You can only manage this if you work more. Working less for the same salary means that productivity is declining."