Entrepreneurs shunning collective bargaining: report

The time for the collective bargaining agreement may be coming to an end. This according to a survey De Telegraaf did among branch-organizations in, among others, the hospitality, retail, metal and construction sectors. According to the newspaper, many organizations are seriously considering ending the cooperation with the unions. Employers find the current collective bargaining agreements too inflexible and too expensive. The hospitality employers are at the forefront of this controversial decision, having had no collective agreements last year. The Koninklijke Horeca Nederland unilaterally decided the terms for the hospitality staff, such as wage increases etc., without help from the unions. The supermarket sector is doing something similar. The collective agreement still exists in that sector, but expired two years ago. The employers determine how long they will keep to the agreements and also unilaterally decide on wage increases. Piet Fortuin, collective agreement coordinator for the union CNV Vakmensen, is worried that the end of collective agreements will create "a situation where workers have to fight individually for what we see as a normal right in the Netherlands: a decent pension and appropriate wage developments", NOS reports. He thinks that this will have a negative effect for the sustainable development of the Dutch economy.