Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Edited Legal Collections Data

Even, Zef --- "Representation in Collective Bargaining on Employment Conditions in the Netherlands" [2011] ELECD 633; in Steele, Jenny; van Boom, H. Willem (eds), "Mass Justice" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Mass Justice

Editor(s): Steele, Jenny; van Boom, H. Willem

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849805063

Section: Chapter 12

Section Title: Representation in Collective Bargaining on Employment Conditions in the Netherlands

Author(s): Even, Zef

Number of pages: 41

Extract:

12. Representation in collective
bargaining on employment
conditions in the Netherlands
Zef Even

1. INTRODUCTION

Employment conditions may be established in various ways. An impor-
tant manner of establishing employment conditions in the Netherlands
is through a collective bargaining agreement (collectieve arbeidsover-
eenkomst). At present, the employment terms of about 70­85 per cent of
all employees in the Netherlands are governed by a collective bargaining
agreement.
A collective bargaining agreement is defined as an agreement concluded
between one or more employers, or employers' organisations, and one
or more trade unions, setting out the terms of employment applicable to
individual employment agreements. Given the importance of collective
bargaining agreements, one might expect that employers' organisations
and trade unions (being the so-called social partners) would have stag-
gering membership numbers. This is untrue with regard to trade unions.
Trade union membership (density) is just above 20 per cent of all employ-
ees in the Netherlands. This means that trade unions that represent a
minority of all employees are in charge of negotiating collective bargain-
ing agreements that are binding to a majority of all employees. This raises
important questions on representativity and legitimacy. Representativity
in collective bargaining in the Netherlands is often understood to relate
to requirements that the social partners involved in collective bargaining
should fulfil with regard to the number of members they have in a specific
company or sector.1
The aim of this contribution is to answer several questions relating to
the above:

1. Is representativity ...