The difference in wages between temporary workers and permanent employees at companies is decreasing and there is more security of work for temporary workers who can be deployed flexibly. The pension accrual for temporary workers will also be improved.
This is stated in agreements between the trade unions FNV, CNV and De Unie and the association for private employment agencies ABU. The new collective labor agreement was negotiated for a year.
The umbrella organization of more than 1,300 smaller employment agencies NBBU is not participating in the new agreements. The ABU, which does participate, represents about 500 temporary employment companies, including the large temporary employment companies.
Advice
The new employment contract cannot be separated from the advice of the Social and Economic Council (SER) to the cabinet last summer. In that advice, unions and employers agree on changing the position of the temporary worker. This should only be used in peak periods and in case of illness for a maximum period of three years. It is now five and a half years.
In the new collective labor agreements, the duration of the first temporary contract will be reduced from one and a half to one year. The period of a fixed-term contract goes from 4 to 3 years. The sum of a temporary contract and a contract for a definite period of time may therefore amount to a maximum of 4 years, so in the direction of the 3 years from the SER advice.
“A lot of what is in the SER advice must be regulated by law. That takes time. The new collective labor agreements are ahead of it,” says Karin Heynsdijk, director of FNV Flex. The intention is that in subsequent collective labor agreements the differences between permanent work and temporary work will be made even smaller, pending what will be regulated by law.
The SER advice also played an important role in the collective labor agreement negotiations for the organization of employment agencies ABU. “We are on the way to future regulation of the labor market. The SER has provided a sketch for this. We want to participate in discussions about the further elaboration. That is why a collective labor agreement with the unions that contributed to the SER advice is important,” says ABU. director Jurriën Koops.
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