Crisis talks next week on job losses

Tuesday 11 November 2008

Ministers are to meet employers and trade unions next Tuesday to discuss the effects of the credit crisis on the Dutch economy, social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner said on Monday.

And on Wednesday there will be a second meeting with local government officials to look at what regional efforts can be made to prevent redundancies, Donner said.

His statement follows yesterday’s presentation of a plan to halt mass redundancies by the FNV trade union federation.

Investing in people

‘Investing in people is the best thing you can do at the moment,’ said FNV chairwoman Agnes Jongerius in the NRC. ‘A lot of time and money has been spent on the banks, and rightly so.’ But is now time to focus on people ‘who keep the economy going every day’, she said.

The effects of the financial crisis are already being felt in the economy at large, the union leader said, pointing to the planned job cuts at vehicle makers DAF, Scania and Nedcar and chemicals and coatings firm DSM, as well as widespread plans to reduce temporary staffing levels.

The union is recommending that companies where there is not enough work should train staff in new skills. This can be paid out of a special fund saved by both unions and employers for times of crisis, it says.

Short-time working

But Donner stressed on Monday that the current rules on short-time working - which allow companies hit by disaster to cut working hours for up to six weeks - does not cover long-term economic developments.

Workers whose hours are cut under the short-time scheme get paid 70% of their salary from the unemployment benefit fund.

And he called on companies with surplus staff to work with other firms where there is a shortage of employees, pointing out that the Netherlands still has some 200,000 job vacancies.

Meanwhile Tuesday's Financieele Dagblad reports that the trade unions have called for bridging loans for wages - see separate story.

© DutchNews.nl

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