Appreciation for the analysis and questions about concrete proposals. That is the common thread in the first political reactions to the recommendation of the Borstlap Committee on the labor market.
Borstlap advises the cabinet to intervene drastically. According to Borstlap, employers must offer fixed contracts more often, the number of flex workers and self-employed persons must be reduced and more must be invested in knowledge and innovation.
The VVD government party broadly shares Borstlap’s analysis. “The labor market has to work for everyone and things really need to be improved,” said MP Tielen NOS Radio 1 Journal. “It is important that the economy grows and that includes a flexible labor market,” she said.
She also sees something in the committee’s idea of making it easier for employers to partially dismiss employees, if there is less work: “We have made it very complicated for employers to be an employer.”
Report can be a turning point
According to opposition party SP, the Borstlap report can be a turning point. “The time when as much flexwork as possible was the solution for everything is a bit over,” says party leader Marijnissen. She agrees that the growing inequality in the labor market is not only unjust for people but also bad for the economy.
According to her, the general direction of the report is that the permanent job should become the norm again. The SP endorses that, but Marijnissen does not see anything in the committee’s plan to make it easier for employers to let staff, for economic reasons, work less and pay less.
Opposition party PvdA also agrees with Borstlap that more security is needed for people who work. But party leader Asscher calls it on Twitter “a dramatically bad idea that under certain circumstances employers can unilaterally adjust their position, workplace or working hours or partially dismiss someone without the permission of the judge or the UWV”.
According to the PvdA you make millions of people insecure and the proposals come down to “you can work on the other side of the country, in a different position, for a lower amount”.
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