Dutch government scraps plans to raise state pension age

The Dutch cabinet has scrapped plans to raise the state pension age more quickly and will revise plans to cut worker benefits. The decision comes after trade unions threatened nationwide strikes if the government carried through with the objectives. 

Faster increase in Dutch state pension age off the table

Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Hans Vijlbrief has agreed to abandon plans to raise the state pension age in line with life expectancy in order to reopen dialogue with Dutch trade unions and prevent strikes. The unions threatened to strike if the plans for the state pension age, unemployment benefit and disability benefit weren’t scrapped, with the first strike to take place in public transport on June 24. 

As part of the coalition agreement, the cabinet planned to raise the state pension age more quickly. Currently, the age to start receiving the state pension (AOW) is 67 and increases by eight months for every extra year of life expectancy. The government’s plans would have seen this increase one-to-one with life expectancy, saving the state 2,7 billion euros per year.

Now, in a letter to the trade unions, the government said it will scrap this plan and pause other plans to cut the unemployment and disability benefits. According to NOS, the government wants to consider alternatives together with trade unions and employers. "By doing so, the cabinet is creating room for social dialogue and calm in the polder," writes Vijlbrief. 

Strikes still possible as Dutch unions find plans insufficient

While the three largest Dutch trade unions, CNV, FNV and VCP, are pleased that the government is reconsidering its plans to raise the state pension age, they are not fully convinced. The unions have said that the strikes will still go ahead. 

FNV chairman Hans Spekman has called the proposal “meagre and extremely unclear”. “The bomb in the polder has not yet been defused. The cabinet has scrapped the increase in the state pension, but must now also quickly provide clarity regarding the other cuts,” said CNV chairman Hans van den Heuvel in a press release. 

The unions are open to a “clarifying discussion” to find out exactly what the government has planned for social security benefits. “The cabinet is being very vague. If the cabinet takes billions away from workers after all, we will quickly resort to industrial action,” said Van den Heuvel.