Ministers are open to the idea of revising their controversial plans to reform redundancy law, finance minister Wouter Bos said on Tuesday. Unions and employers are due to present their own sharply-divided ideas to ministers on Thursday.

Ministers will listen to the arguments and ‘pick up useful points’ Bos told news agency ANP. ‘We are going to took at what we can change before sending the bill to parliament,’ Bos said.
The cabinet’s proposals involve making it easier for employers to sack staff without recourse to the courts and setting a maximum of €75,000 on golden handshake payouts.
Earlier on Tuesday, MPs from Bos’s own Labour party (PvdA) said they may be forced to rethink their position because of union opposition to the reforms. ‘There is a good chance that we will fine-tune the plans,’ said PvdA MP Mariëlle Hamer.
On Monday, the FNV trade union federation reported that unions and employers had failed to reach a common position on the plans because the unions are totally opposed to making it easier to sack staff.
Meanwhile, the FD reports that the unions want more rights for people on temporary employment contracts, and will make their position clear during Thursdays talks which take place under the auspices of the STAR labour foundation.
Under current laws on temporary employment, temps can be given three short-term contracts by the same employer before being offered a permanent job.