A Flexible Country in the Making: Reaction and strategy of the trade union movement to flexibilization in the Netherlands in the 1980s

Rosa Kösters; Loran van Diepen; Moira van Dijk; Matthias van Rossum

doi:10.52024/tseg.12080

Author(s)

Rosa Kösters International Institute of Social History
Loran van Diepen
Moira van Dijk International Institute of Social History
Matthias van Rossum International Institute of Social History

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52024/tseg.12080

Abstract

Internationally, the 1980s marked a shift in economic policy. In the Netherlands, the supposedly moderate neoliberal turn and the first round of flexibilization characterized the decade. Nowadays, labour market flexibility is exceptionally high in the Netherlands compared to neighbouring countries. This article examines how the trade union movement in the 1980s responded to increasing flexibilization, which strategy was used, and how this contributed to early Dutch flexibilization. In contrast to literature reflecting an institutional perspective, the trade union movement is analysed in this article from a social-historical perspective and as a social movement. As a result, it is argued that the effects of rising flexibilization were noted very early on within the trade unions. Be that as it may, both the priorities that followed from the agreements with employer organizations and the internal dynamics were decisive for the trade union movement’s relatively late and unassertive responses to the flexibilization of labour in the 1980s.

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Author Biographies

Rosa Kösters, International Institute of Social History

Rosa Kösters (1993) is PhD Researcher at the International Institute of Social History (IISH). In her project she examines the consequences of and reactions by Dutch workers and trade unions to changing labour relations from 1970-2020. She studied History at the University of Amsterdam (cum laude). For her research master thesis on the transformation in work and work floor solidarities at Philips and Hoogovens in the 1970s and 1980s, Rosa won the Dutch Thesis Award for Studies of the Labour Movement 2018. She participated in the IISH and FNV project Exploring the recent History of Labour Union Practices in 2017 and is co-author of Precaire Polder. In collaboration with the Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade union Movement she published De vakbond en de werkvloer, op zoek naar nieuwe relaties (2020).
Loran van Diepen

Loran van Diepen (1990) was a research assistant at the project Exploring the recent History of Labour union Practices in 2017, which resulted in the report Precaire Polder (2018). In that year, he also completed his research master in History. In his thesis Wie verdient welvaart? Loran investigated how welfare policy in the Wieringermeerpolder (1910-1940) was profoundly influenced by ideas about the promotion of welfare in the Dutch East Indies. From 2018 to 2019 he was as an archivist at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) involved in creating an inventory and descriptions for the FNV archive. In 2019 he returned to education. He now works as a teacher at the primary school ‘t Koggeschip in Amsterdam.
Moira van Dijk, International Institute of Social History

Moira van Dijk (1980) is a historian and currently works as a curator at the International Institute of Social History (IISH). She is responsible for collection development on Germany, the United Kingdom and international organizations. Before this, Moira was a researcher at the IISH involved in the (preliminary) study of the recent history of the Dutch trade union movement, for which she co-authored the report Precaire Polder and the article ‘Terugblikken om meer te zien! Een historische reflectie op vakbeweging, strategie en onderzoek.’
Matthias van Rossum, International Institute of Social History

Matthias van Rossum is Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social History (IISH). He currently holds the role of vice-chair at the European Labour History Network (ELHN). Matthias specializes in social and labour history, and his publications cover in particular the history of slavery and the slave trade, social relations and strategies of resistance. As a (co-)applicant he is involved in projects in the field of diversity and racialization (Resilient Diversity) and the history of slavery (Exploring Slave Trade in Asia: Between local debts and global markets). He was project leader of Exploring the Recent History of Labour Union Practices, which resulted in the report Precaire Polder.