Employers’ chief says no to pension reform, social security cuts

The Netherlands’ biggest employers organisation VNO-NCW has told the Telegraaf it opposes government plans to increase the state pension age and to cut social security benefits.

The government wants to increase the state pension age in line with life expectancy but the new pension system agreed in 2019 by employers, ministers and the unions includes a slower rise.

“There are far bigger problems facing us at the moment,” the association’s new chairman Coen van Oostrom said. “My predecessors signed the [pension agreement] and I am totally committed to it. A deal is a deal.”

Nor does Van Oostrom support an alternative plan under which pensioners would continue to pay state pension premiums. “The whole AOW discussion needs to be put on ice, locked away and the key thrown in the freezer,” he told the paper.

Plans to reduce unemployment benefits and invalidity benefits are also not priorities, he said, adding that the crisis in the Middle East, rising inflation and electricity grid capacity problems should be dealt with first.

“What we need to talk about is the Netherlands’ resilience in terms of its finances, energy and other issues,” he said. “And then we can start arguing about making cuts of €6 billion or other figures.”

Van Oostrom said he is not looking for a social agreement but a broader accord focused on investment and entrepreneurship, with a target of 2% annual economic growth. Achieving that would require resolving the nitrogen crisis, tackling grid congestion, reducing red tape and speeding up planning procedures, he said.

He said hopes to reach such an agreement in broad outline before the budget in September.

The unions have already said they will not support the pension or social security plans and have begun planning industrial action. A nationwide public transport strike is slated for June 24.