Equal opportunities and collective bargaining in the Netherlands: a good case in contract catering

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Review of Labour and Transfer: European

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 DOI: 10.1177/102425890000600209

2000 6: 254Transfer: European Review of Labour and ResearchJeanne de Bruijn and Inge Bleijenbergh

contract cateringEqual opportunities and collective bargaining in the Netherlands: a good case in

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Equal opportunities and collective bargaining in theNetherlands: a good case in contract catering

Jeanne de Bruijn and Inge Bleijenbergh*

Jeanne de Bruijn, Professor of social issues and social policy, Free University of Amsterdam.Inge Bleijenbergh, PhD Fellow on a project on European social policy and gender, Free University ofAmsterdam.

E SummaryAre there good practices of collective bargaining on equal opportunities in the Netherlandsand, if so, what can we learn from them? The article answers these questions by means ofextensive reference to a case-study on the Dutch contract catering sector, which has acollective agreement including detailed provisions on childcare and steps to tackle sexualharassment.

Contract catering, a relatively new sector in the Netherlands, underwent rapid expansion inthe nineties. The sector is characterised by a high proportion of female employees (75%),three quarters of whom are employed in a part-time capacity, and a relatively low degree oforganisation. As in the rest of the Netherlands, industrial relations in this sector are stronglyinstitutionalised and the whole process of preparation, bargaining and implementation ofcollective agreements takes place in a consultative body for labour and management, namelythe Contract Catering Joint Committee.

The attention paid to equal opportunities dates from the first bargaining round conducted inthe catering sector at the end of the eighties. In that period societal attention to the topic wascombined with strong economic growth in the sector and the employers’wish to attract femaleemployees. Especially re-entering women were expected to combine the right service-direct-ed attitude with the willingness to work flexible hours. An infrastructure of (female) expertson equal opportunities from within the trade unions activated personal involvement of some(male) negotiators in the topic. During consecutive bargaining rounds framework agreementswere concluded on affirmative action, parental leave, child-care provision and sexualharassment. Especially the fact that working groups of labour and management were set upon the last two topics contributed to the relatively successful outcome in respect of thesearrangements.

F Résumé Y-a-t-il de bonnes pratiques de la négociation collective sur le thème de l’égalité des

chances aux Pays-Bas et, si tel est le cas, que pouvons-nous en retirer? L’article répond à

ces questions au moyen de nombreuses références à une étude de cas sur le secteur hol-landais de la sous-traitance de la restauration dans les entreprises, secteur qui dispose

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d’une convention collective comprenant des dispositions détaillées sur la garde des enfantset sur la lutte contre le harcèlement sexuel. Le secteur de la sous-traitance de la restaura-tion dans les entreprises, secteur relativement nouveau aux Pays-Bas, a subi une expansionrapide dans les années 90. Le secteur se caractérise par un taux élevé de travailleuses

(75%), dont les trois quarts sont employés à temps partiel, et par un taux de syndicalisationrelativement bas. Comme dans le reste des Pays-Bas, les relations professionnelles dans cesecteur sont fortement institutionnalisées et le processus entier de la préparation, négocia-tion et mise en oeuvre des conventions collectives a lieu au sein d’un organe consultatif oùse rencontrent les partenaires sociaux, à savoir le Comité mixte de sous-traitance de larestauration. L’intérêt qui est porté à l’égalité des chances date de la première série de

négociations menées dans le secteur de la restauration à la fin des années 80. Durant cettepériode, l’intérêt de la société en général pour ce thème fut combiné avec une forte crois-sance économique du secteur et le souhait des employeurs d’attirer des travailleuses. Ons’est attendu en particulier à ce que les femmes qui retournaient sur le marché du travailcombinent une attitude correcte et agréable à I ’égard de la clientèle avec la volonté de tra-vailler de manière flexible. Une infrastructure d’ experts (féminins) en matière d’ égalité deschances émanant des syndicats a incité quelques négociateurs (masculins) à s’impliquerpersonnellement dans le sujet. Pendant des négociations ayant eu lieu de manière consécu-tive, des accords-cadres ont été signés sur l ’action positive, le congé parental, les disposi-tions en matière de garde des enfants et le harcèlement sexuel. Le fait en particulier que desgroupes de travail entre partenaires sociaux ont été établis sur les deux derniers thèmes acontribué aux résultats relativement concluants en ce qui concerne ces dispositions.

ZusammenfassungBestehen in den Niederlanden erfolgreiche Praktiken in den Tarifverhandlungen zurChancengleilhheit und wenn ja, was können wir daraus lernen? Diese Fragen will derArtikel durch eine ausführliche Fallstudie des niederländischen Vertragsküchengewerbes

D beantworten. In diesem Sektor wurde ein Tarifabkommen abgeschlossen, das detaillierteBestimmungen über Kinderbetreuung und über Maβnahmen zur Bekämpfung sexuellerBelästigung beinhaltet.

Das Vertragsküchengewerbe ist eine relativ neue Branche in den Niederlanden, die in den90er Jahren rapide gewachsen ist. Charakteristisch für diese Branche ist der hohe Anteilweiblicher Beschäftigter (75%), von denen drei Viertel in einem Teilzeitarbeitsverhältnisstehen, sowie ein geringer Organisationsgrad. Ebenso wie in den anderen Wirt-

schaftszweigen in den Niederlanden sind die Arbeitsbeziehungen in diesem Sektor starkinstitutionalisiert, und der gesamte Prozeβ der Vorbereitung, Verhandlung und Umsetzungvon Tarifabkommen erfolgt im Rahmen des Gemeinsamen Ausschusses für das Vertrags-küchengewerbe, eines Beratungsgremiums, an dem Arbeitnehmer und Unternehmens-

führungen teilnehmen. Bereits in der ersten Verhandlungsrunde in diesem Sektor am Endeder 80er Jahre stand das Thema Chancengleichheit auf der Tagesordnung.

In jener Zeit ging das gesellschaftliche Interesse an diesem Thema einher mit einemstarken wirtschaftlichen Wachstum in diesem Sektor und den Bemühungen der Arbeitgeber,

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weibliche Arbeitskräfte anzuziehen. Besonders von Frauen, die ins Berufsleben zurück-

kehren, erwartete man sich die richtige Dienstleistungseinstellung, kombiniert mit der

Bereitschaft, flexible Arbeitszeiten zu akzeptieren. Durch die Infrastruktur (weiblicher)Gewerkschaftsexperten auf dem Gebiet der Chancengleichheit konnte das persönlicheEngagement einiger (männlicher) Unterhändler für dieses Thema aktiviert werden. In

mehreren aufeinanderfolgenden Verhandlungsrunden wurden Rahmenvereinbarungen zuErziehungsurlaub, Kinderbetreuung und sexueller Belästigung abgeschlossen. Daβ bei

diesen Vereinbarungen relativ erfolgreiche Ergebnisse erzielt wurden, ist insbesondere der

Einrichtung von Arbeitsgruppen aus Arbeitnehmer- und Arbeitgebervertretern zu den zweiletztgenannten Themen zu verdanken.

Introduction

In the last decades of the twentieth century the European Union has developed a fairlysophisticated legislation on equal treatment (Bercusson & Dickens 1996). Accordingly,the European Commission’s strategy of switching to collective bargaining, as a means of

achieving a considerable step forward with equal opportunities for men and women, has metwith some scepticism. What could collective bargaining, with its completely different historyand major variations between countries, sectors or enterprises, contribute to equal opportunitiesin the European Union?

One of the main reasons for this change in strategy is the changing role of social partners inEuropean policy-making. The possibility of a Social Policy Agreement - formally introduced inthe Treaty of Maastricht (1991) and much more elaborated in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) -offers a new mechanism for the creation of European legislation. The European Commission isnow obliged to inform the European social partners of every new initiative it takes concerningthe development of social policy. The European social partners are allowed to take over this ini-tiative, on the condition that they formulate measures in this field of social policy within a peri-od of nine months. If they succeed in concluding an agreement, they can ask the Council ofMinisters to translate the agreement into a binding directive, which gives it legal force through-out the European Union. This procedure offers an alternative route for the creation of Europeansocial policy.

The direct involvement of the European social partners in this procedure has increased theirpossibilities in promoting equal opportunities. Because the social dialogue also emerges onsectoral level, the European sectoral organisations too have increased possibilities for commonregulation. By bringing the social partners into the process of policy-making, the EuropeanCommission hopes to broaden and deepen equal opportunities policies in comparison with thelegislative route. The instrument of collective bargaining has the disadvantage that equal oppor-

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tunities measures have to be invented time and again. On the other hand, it also offers a chal-lenge, namely the possibility to develop tailor-made provisions.

Are there good practices of collective bargaining on equal opportunities? What can we learn fromthese practices to accelerate the process of collective bargaining on equal opportunities in general?In this article we intend to answer these questions for the Netherlands. First we will sketch theDutch climate on labour relations and the special position of women on the Dutch labour market.We will look back at how equal opportunities came on to the Dutch collective bargaining agenda.Then we will take a look at a good practice of collective bargaining on equal opportunities in theDutch context, namely the collective agreement for the contract-catering sector. In this collectiveagreement concrete measures for childcare facilities are developed, which is an important measurein the Dutch situation. Alongside this provision, the sector has developed detailed measures tocombat the sexual harassment of employees. On this subject the Netherlands also has played apioneering role in the European context (see European Commission 1998). We will argue that acombination of structural factors and individual actors influenced the progress on equal opportu-nities in this sector and has resulted in a relatively good agreement. Finally we will elaborate onthe general lessons that can be learned from this specific example, paying special attention to theconstraints and possibilities of the Dutch ’polder model&dquo; for the development of equalopportunities measures.

Scientific attention and central concepts

Equal opportunities laid down by law have an extended scientific record over the last 25 years(Bercusson & Dickens 1996). The scientific study of labour relations can even refer to a traditionof almost a century (Albeda & Dercksen 1989). What is remarkable is that equal opportunities andcollective agreements have received little attention as separate subjects of research until fairlyrecently. Studying the subject of equal opportunities in collective agreements is relatively new -from a scientific viewpoint - and therefore poorly developed. The comparative EU study on whichthis article is based therefore fills an important gap (Dickens and Latta in this volume).

Starting with the concept of equal opportunities, we see that within the European Community thisconcept has undergone an impressive development, following debates in the women’s movement.The original concept of direct and intentional discrimination of women by reason of their sexexpanded to include, among other things, indirect discrimination in the form of a lesser treatmentof part-time workers, the application of breadwinner principles in social security or the use ofunequal pension criteria. The scope of the concept expanded beyond pay discrimination to includediscrimination in work access, working conditions, vocational training and social welfare. Theexpansion also opened up the possibility of new policies such as affirmative action, the provisionof childcare facilities and parental leave, the combat of sexual harassment and policies regardingbreakthrough of traditional gender images. The concept of collective agreement refers to jointregulations between social partners in the determination of terms and conditions of employment

1 The Dutch Polder Model gained international attention as a practical example of the Third Way, promotedby Tony Blair and Bill Clinton.

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for large numbers of workers or all workers per sector or company. In this study collective agree-ments are studied for their potential as instruments promoting the achievement of gender equa-lity.

In the comparative study, the concept of good practices in collective agreements refers both toagreements that declare an intention to promote equality of women and men, irrespective of theeffect in practice, and to agreements which do in fact address discrimination in practice. At thesame time there is a comparative element to the concept of good practices, namely that themeaning of ’good’ has to be related to the context. It may be good compared to the previoussituations, to other sectors, to legal regulation or to the particular bargaining context (Bercusson& Dickens 1996). In our case we take as good practice the most elaborated agreements in Dutchcontext - compared to earlier situations and to other sectors -, with the most advanced and mostexplicit regulations on equal opportunities.

The Dutch Polder Model: an example of the Third Way

The Dutch Polder Model in general refers to a society with a strong corporatist structure and,in line with this, to labour relations directed at consensus. The name ’Polder Model’ was

introduced in 1982, when the Dutch social partners at national level agreed on far-reaching wagerestraint in exchange for saving jobs in the long run (Treaty of Wassenaar 1982). This contributedto a booming economic development in the eighties and nineties, with a fast growing labour force(most of the growth consisting of part-time work) and with low unemployment.

The success of this model - which is the long-term consensus (since 1982) between the socialpartners in the Netherlands - can to a substantial extent be ascribed to the huge re-entry of womeninto the labour process in the last 20 years. Most of these women were prepared to work in thegrowing numbers of public service jobs (health care, home care, public education) and commer-cial service jobs (childcare, contract catering, retail) for low pay, on flexible work schedules andpart-time hours. The addition of these new ’second’ incomes, in households that traditionally livedoff one income, persuaded the male breadwinners to accept wage restraint for almost two decades(since 1982). The new women’s work made the boom of the Dutch economy possible.

The Treaty of Wassenaar is still in force, although since the autumn of 1999 it is under highpressure to be broken by the unions, because figures have shown that workers accepted wagerestraint, while Dutch senior management profited by disproportionately enlarging their ownsalaries. The Dutch Polder Model received international attention as a practical example of theThird Way - between free market and state regulation - promoted by politicians such as Tony Blairand Bill Clinton.

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Consensus model

The Netherlands have a history of highly centralised collective bargaining, with a strongtendency towards consensus (Albeda/Dercksen 1989). The Dutch labour market situation can becharacterised by an intensive, institutionalised co-operation between the government, trade unionsand employers’ organisations. The social partners have intensive contact within advisory bodies suchas the Labour Foundation (employers and trade unions) and the Socio-Economic Council (employ-ers, trade unions and independent government appointees). These advisory bodies exert a stronginfluence upon the process of collective bargaining.

For example the Labour Foundation every year develops a line of action for the collective bargainingprocesses in sectors and companies, an arrangement which determines the room for the bargaining.Alongside this practice, regular recommendations are issued on topics requiring special attention.Since these recommendations are formulated in intense co-operation between national employer andemployee organisations, they clearly show what is feasible at lower levels of bargaining. As decen-tralisation develops, recommendations increasingly take the form of frameworks within which detailscan be inserted at a lower level. In recent years these advisory bodies have regularly made recom-mendations in the field of equal opportunities (SER 1990, 1991, STAR 1990, 1991, 1993).

The coverage of collective agreements is fairly diverse in the EU countries. In the Netherlands thecoverage is relatively high because the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment declares the big-ger collective agreements to be ’generally binding’. Circa 70% of all Dutch employees are coveredby a collective agreement, although on average the level of unionisation in the Netherlands is only26%. There are no figures available on how many males and females are covered by sector or com-pany collective agreement. In general women are less covered by collective agreements, because theywork more in temporary and flexible jobs, which have less coverage. Women also work more insmaller companies, which are less covered by collective agreements than the larger companies (Vander Bom & Van der Veen 1992).

The deviant Dutch female labour market

The reader may well be familiar with the deviant situation of the Dutch labour market with regardto the position of women. The Netherlands has traditionally been characterised by a very lowlabour market participation of women. Up until the 1960s the participation rate of women wasabout 20%. Nowadays the participation rates are more or less on the mean of the European Union,with a participation of 47% of Dutch women and 74% of Dutch men (De Bruijn & Bleijenbergh1996; CBS 1995). These figures however are distorted, because of the relatively large amount ofpart-time work in the Netherlands. In fact 59% of the women work less than 35 hours.

The percentage of male part-timers is 11 %, which is also high when compared to other Europeancountries.

In the Netherlands part-time work is the major solution whereby women (and men) combine workand family life in the so-called ’one-and-half-income-earning-family’. Traditionally the amountof childcare facilities in the Netherlands has been very low. Even after the growing labour force

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participation of women, the childcare facilities could remain low because women combined part-time working with their care work. The fact that mothers in the Netherlands mostly care for theirchildren themselves produces a career pattern of participation in the labour force with an M-curve.Women leave the labour force between the ages of 25 and 35, when they have children,and re-enter it when the children are older. Moreover, women are tending to postpone starting afamily. The average age at which women have their first child in the Netherlands is over 28, thehighest in the world.

The main factor of deviance in relation to surrounding countries is the long-term low labour marketparticipation rate of married women indicated by official statistics in the Netherlands.This is due to a complex of causes, including relatively late industrialisation, strong influence ofProtestant and Catholic motherhood ideologies and relatively fast economic growth in the firstdecades of the twentieth century and after the Second World War. With the help of breadwinner faci-lities, more families than in surrounding countries were able to live in accordance with this mother-hood ideology. A high birth rate continued in the Netherlands till the fifties. Even then four or fivechildren per family were still standard, so that women were lifelong mothers. Following the intro-duction of the contraceptive pill in 1964, the birth rate dropped to two children on average and madepaid work outside the home into an option for women. The increase of women in paid work in theNetherlands started from about 1960 onwards, some decades later than in other European countries

Epual opportunities in Dutch politics

Equal opportunities policies in the Netherlands started in the second half of the seventies with aState Secretary for the Emancipation of Women, at that time attached to the Ministry of Culture,Recreation and Social Work. In the eighties the department moved to the Ministry of Social Affairsand Employment, which gave a different content to the equal opportunities policies. In theNetherlands the equal pay law dates from 1975 and the equal treatment law from 1980.

During the eighties, the number of policy measures in the field of equal opportunities grew. As inthe European Union, the policy subjects ranged from equal treatment to parental leave, childcarefacilities, sexual harassment and affirmative action.

Since the introduction of the equal treatment law for men and women in the workforce in the sev-enties, this law has been further developed and improved. In the mid-eighties an AffirmativeAction Stimulating Measure was introduced for assisting companies financially (by financing anequal opportunities officer) in initiating preferential hiring and affirmative action policies.The government as an employer set a good example with affirmative action for governmentemployees. During the eighties the Dutch government equal opportunity policies focused

increasingly on the (labour market) position of specific categories of women, like re-entry women,young females, unemployed women, black and migrant women, women entrepreneurs andentrepreneurs’ wives.

During the second half of the eighties some improvements took place in accommodating workingconditions and working hours of pregnant women and young mothers. In 1991 the pregnancy and

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childbirth leave was extended from 12 to 16 weeks and a 100% pay. In 1991 also a law on parentalleave became effective (both parents entitled to six-month unpaid part-time leave). While child-care earlier has been seen as an exclusive responsibility of the parents, in 1989 a stimulation policyon the development of childcare facilities was started. With the government Stimulation Measurefor childcare the increase of day-care centres was supported. Until now the facility of day-care isin the Netherlands not a ’basic governmental responsibility’, as is primary education in theNetherlands and childcare in many other EU countries. The private childcare is organised inco-operation between local government, employers and employees. Local governments administerthe financial support from the government for the development of public and private childcarefacilities. By a fiscal stimulus, which make day-care costs deductible from enterprise profits,employers are activated to contribute more to day-care facilities. Also for parents the tax advan-tages grew. Although the level of childcare facilities in the Netherlands is still low, in the ninetiesfast growth was visible. Between 1990 and 1996 the day-care places almost tripled from 31,000 to85,000 places, which means 73 places per 1000 children aged 0-3 years and which are used by 135children per 1000 children aged 0-3 years (against 61 children aged 0-3 years in 1990) (JaarboekEmancipatie 1999). The government Stimulation Measure for day-care facilities also made a starton offering extended school programmes for children aged 4 to 12.

In 1984 the Dutch government initiated a policy to combat sexual violence against women andgirls, which includes the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. Motivated by the Dutchgovernment at European level a legal context of combating and preventing sexual harassmentemerged in the European Code on Sexual Harassment (1993). With this code as a base, the DutchLaw on Working Conditions has been widened to include a provision on sexual harassment:&dquo;It is part of the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe and healthy working environment&dquo;(SER 1991:15/16).

Due to the long tradition of corporatist labour relations, the interaction between legal regulationsand collective bargaining is complex in the Dutch political context. This applies also to equalopportunity issues. In this context the use of framework laws became increasingly popular onissues concerning equal opportunities. These framework laws, which are developed by thegovernment, can be tailor-made for companies or upgraded in the collective agreements. Examplesof this will be seen in our case study of contract catering.

Equal opportunities in Dutch collective agreements

With the growing labour market participation of women and the above-mentioned attention toequal opportunities in Dutch politics, attention to the topic increased also within trade unions andemployers’ organisations. This resulted in Labour Foundation reports on Women and Work(STAR 1991), sexual harassment (STAR 1990), affirmative action (STAR 1991) and part-timework. Also the Socio-Economic council formulated advice in the field of sexual harassment

(SER 1991) and affirmative action (SER 1990). It went together with an enormous increase ofcollective agreements with provisions and regulations on equal opportunities. By the beginning ofthe nineties 70% of collective agreements contained at least some provisions on equal opportunity

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issues, while one decade before, in 1980, there had been virtually no collective agreements with suchprovisions (SZW 1992). However, the increase of provisions and regulations on equal opportunitieshas not to be exaggerated. Most of them are only declarations of intention or research intentions. Forexample, 50% of the collective agreements have an agreement about affirmative action, but only15% account for explicit measures in companies (FNV 1991 a).

The inclusion of equal opportunity issues on the trade unions’ bargaining agendas may be due,among other things, to their decreasing power in the eighties. The decline in trade union membershipled to an internal discussion on the role and strategies of unions in general. The unions started todefine new target groups like ethnic minorities, women re-entering the labour market and disabledworkers (Klandermans & Visser 1995). With the help of a small group of very capable female offi-cers within the trade unions, the policy change took concrete shape.

One way to influence the bargaining agenda was the production of equal opportunities bargainingagendas. From 1985 until 1991 the FNV-Women’s Department published a yearly manual on theimprovement of the position of women, with concrete examples of affirmative action, flexibility andpart-time work, combinations of paid work and family life, and sexual harassment

(FNV 1991 a). Also the Federation of trade unions for middle and senior management MHPpublished a manual for negotiators on topics concerning equal opportunities (Franssen 1995). After1992 the accent was removed to the publication of thematic studies, for example a manual for bar-gaining on part-time work (Catz 1994) and a manual for bargaining on sexual harassment (FNV1992). These thematic studies describe the content of the collective agreements on specific topics andhow these agreements could be improved.

In the same period also employers’ associations were involved with publications on the position ofwomen. In 1992 the employers’ associations VNO and NCW published a report on the labour mar-ket participation of women. The scope covered by the employers however differed widely from thatof the trade unions. While trade unions focussed on measures to facilitate the participation of women,employers focussed on the removal of financial hindrances for the participation of women(breadwinner arrangements in tax and social security). The formal policy of employers results in for-mal equality, while (some parts) of the unions conceptualise equal treatment as material equality,rather than same treatment.

The growth of equal opportunities provisions in collective agreements took place in the political cli-mate of the eighties with its neo-liberal tendencies. According to these neo-liberal tendencies moreregulative governmental power is transferred to the labour market parties, which causes differentforms of ’governance on distance’. Particularly in relation to issues of childcare and sexual harass-ment at the workplace this shift is of more than average significance. In both cases the ’governanceon distance’ places a major responsibility on the social partners to implement policies and practicesin all the sectors they cover.

The contract-catering sector

In this climate the genesis of the collective agreement for the contract-catering sector took place.Contract catering is a relatively new branch of the commercial service sector and has undergonerapid expansion in recent years. Since 1991 turnover in the sector has increased threefold. Contractcatering is when private companies or public institutions outsource their canteens and otherforms of catering to outside caterers. In the eighties this form of sub-contracting was very much

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on the increase in the Netherlands. Originally employees in contract catering fell under the col-lective agreement for hotels and restaurants, but in 1988 employers in the catering sector askedthe minister of Social Affairs and Employment for permission to conclude their own collectiveagreement. Their argument was that contract catering was much more industrialised than thetrade (and craft) character of hotels and restaurants. The minister agreed, on condition that a col-lective agreement be concluded within half a year, and so it happened. The relative youth of thiscollective agreement is of special significance for the equal opportunities results in the collec-tive bargaining, as we will see. -

Why did we choose contract catering as a good practice agreement on equal opportunities?In earlier investigations we found that in the Netherlands examples of ’good collective

agreements’ could be found in all sectors, but that most of them were to be found in the publicor semi-public service sector (Bleijenbergh & de Bruijn 1997). This drew our attention to thedeviant cases. In the context of the European comparative research, we were especially inter-ested in the commercial service sector. Throughout Europe this sector has been growing fast andit attracts relatively large numbers of female employees. In Dutch contract catering women com-prise 75% of all employees and - even higher then in the rest of the Netherlands - 73% of themwork part-time (Veneca 2000). The degree of organisation in the sector is relatively low, name-ly 20% against a national average of 26.2% (Van de Bom & Van der Veen 1992). Understandingthe causes of good equal opportunities provisions in this sector would offer potential improve-ments for other branches.

We chose the contract catering collective agreement because it contains a range of equalopportunities topics, varying from an anti-discrimination principle to the provision of childcarefacilities, parental and calamity leave and an arrangement on the prevention and combat ofsexual harassment (Vakraad voor de Nederlandse Contract-catering branche 1999). The agree-ment is relatively elaborated, compared to other agreements in the sector (see Bleijenbergh &de Bruijn 1997), and also contains topics which are especially relevant in the Dutch context.The provision of childcare facilities is relevant because of the relatively low amount of publicchildcare in the country. On the subject of childcare facilities the agreement for the contractcatering sector contains the provision that both male and female employees are offered carefacilities for children aged between 0 and 12 years. The childcare is provided by childminderfamilies and paid from a fund to which both employers and employees contribute. Parents paya contribution according to their income. The topic of sexual harassment, meanwhile, is relevantin the Netherlands because the quick growth of female labour market participation demands anintensive adaptation of organisation cultures. On the subject of sexual harassment, the arrange-ment on the prevention and combating of sexual harassment foresees the appointment of a trust-ed representative in companies and a complaints procedure for the sector.

Reconstruction of the bargaining process

In order to gain a good picture of the process that led to the good practice agreement in the contract-catering industry we used for this case-study the method of ’intensive process analysis’(Huberts 1994: 45-53). First we made a reconstruction of the bargaining process on the basis ofarchival research’ and then we conducted interviews with nine people that were involved

2 With thanks for the co-operation of the Horecabond FNV, Industrie en Voedingsbond CNV and theVoedingsbond FNV

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(e.g. employer negotiators, union negotiators and policy-makers from both sides).3 On the basis ofthis reconstruction we could analyse how the various actors’ standpoints changed as time went on.In order to determine their degree of influence we compared the standpoint of individual actors inthe course of time with the end result of the bargaining process. Next to that we looked at theaccess actors had to the bargaining process (Bleijenbergh 1997).

In the contract catering sector the bargaining takes place between employers’ organisation Venecaand trade unions Horecabond FNV and Industrie- en Voedingsbond CNV4. Employers’ organisa-tion Veneca is an association of thirteen large catering companies, who employ 95% of all employ-ees in the contract-catering sector. Veneca is affiliated to the Dutch national employers’ organisa-tion VNO/NCW The Horecabond FNV, which is affiliated to the neutral Dutch Trade UnionConfederation, is the biggest trade union with 83% of all the union members in the sector. Muchsmaller is the portion of the Industrie- en Voedingsbond CNV, affiliated to Dutch Christian TradeUnion Confederation, which organises 8% of the union members in the sector.

As in the rest of the Netherlands, labour relations in the contract-catering sector are stronglyinstitutionalised. The catering sector has its own consultative body for employers and employees,namely the Contract catering joint committee (Vakraad voor de Contract-catering branche).Such a committee is a typical example of the Dutch Polder model: the whole process of prepara-tion, bargaining and implementing results takes place in close co-operation between employersand employees. To deal with the implementation of specific topics, the Joint Committeesometimes institutes working parties, again made up of representatives of employers and employ-ees.

It is important to understand that the bargaining process within the Contract catering jointcommittee is strongly influenced by external factors. The standpoints of the bargaining parties arecomposed in an interplay between negotiators, policy officers, the members of commissions thatprepare the bargaining sessions, the working conditions policy of unions or companies and thepolicy of the national federation (Bleijenbergh 1997). As we saw earlier, the subjects andbargaining space are already defined at the national level, in the form of framework agreementsmade between employers and employees within The Labour Foundation. In the followingparagraphs we focus on the process of creation of the two most elaborated provisions on equalopportunities contained in the collective agreement for contract catering, namely childcare and theprevention and combating of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment

The theme of sexual harassment is the oldest equal opportunities topic in the collective agreementfor contract catering. The first provisions on this topic were laid down during the first bargaininground in the catering sector, i.e. in 1988. In that period the employers’ organisation Veneca wasunder pressure to conclude an agreement with the trade union before May 1988, because that was

3 With thanks for the co-operation of the members of the Nederlandse Vakraad voor de Contract Catering.A list of people interviewed can be found in Bleijenbergh (1997).4 The other 9% of the union members of the contract catering belongs to the Unie BLHP, the third largestFederation in the Nederlands. Because this union joined the collective bargaining only in 1996, it was not

engaged in the introduction of equal opportunities provisions and it will stay out of our research.

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the condition under which they were allowed to have a specific agreement for the sector. Thiswas a very comfortable position for the trade unions, which were able to present high demands.

In the bargaining round of 1988, the employers’ organisation Veneca was the first to put forwarda proposal on sexual harassment. It was a statement of principle about the right of every employ-ee to respect for his or her personal life and about the institution of sanctions on sexual harass-ment. The fact that Veneca was the first to put forward the topic does not necessarily mean thatthe initiative came from them. As a negotiator for the Horecabond FNV stated: &dquo;We hinted thatwe were interested in the topic and waited for the employers to come up with a first proposal.&dquo;Even so, employers were genuinely convinced of the importance of the topic. As one employerexplained: &dquo;In the contract catering sector workplaces are strongly geographically spread andhave only a few employees, which makes it difficult to control. An instrument to prevent prob-lems is needed. In practice sexual harassment often remains hidden, whereas in service indus-tries it is important to solve problems quickly.&dquo;

The Horecabond FNV and the Voedingsbond CNV responded with additional written proposalswhereby employers would be obliged to follow a policy of preventing unacceptable forms ofbehaviour. Employees should have the possibility to report unacceptable forms of behaviour toa central representative and a grievance procedure should be developed. The final result of thefirst bargaining round was a copy of the proposal by the employers’ organisation, supplement-ed by the agreement that a central representative should be appointed and a grievance proceduredevised.

The appointment of this central representative on sexual harassment proved to be an essentialcondition for the development and relative success of the provision. The officer, Mrs Passchier,was detached from the national federation FNV and already had a good record on this topic.Amongst other things, she had been involved in the development of the advice on sexualharassment from the national advisory boards STAR (1990) and SER (1991). Because she wasseen as an expert, the Contract catering joint committee gave her the room to develop a griev-ance procedure according to her own insight. As an employer stated: &dquo;we had a lot of good inten-tions, but knew nearly nothing of the topic&dquo;. Mrs Passchier, however, understood how importantit is that the policy on sexual harassment should be conducted within the companies. She decid-ed to develop the grievance procedure in intensive consultation with the trusted representativesfrom the various Veneca companies.

Between 1990 and 1992 Mrs Passchier and the representatives on sexual harassment from thedifferent catering organisations developed a grievance procedure for preventing and combatingsexual harassment. Under this procedure every employer is committed to a policy of preventingand combating sexual harassment and to the appointment of a representative on sexual harass-ment. In addition, a complaints committee has to be appointed at sectoral level in order to dealwith official complaints. The grievance procedure was discussed in the bargaining round of1992. Most of the proposals of the representatives were adopted, but one final change was made.Originally Mrs Passchier and the representatives wanted representatives only to handle thecomplaints but not to be involved in their resolution. Mediation should be not one of their tasks.After discussion in the joint committee Mrs Passchier came to agree that representatives shouldbe empowered to hold informal talks, by way of mediation, with the persons involved. The rep-resentative has the task of assistance and is empowered to conduct informal mediation, while acomplaints committee deals with formal complaints.

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Childcare ’

..

The provision on childcare in the collective agreement for the contract catering sector is from asomewhat later date. The first proposal on childcare was drawn up jointly by the trade unionsHorecabond FNV and Industrie- en Voedingsbond CNV during the bargaining round in 1990.It was a proposal for the establishment of a childcare fund, from which child places could bebought for employees. The proposal was an initiative from the Horecabond FNV, who hadalready declared policy on childcare facilities a general topic in its working conditions statementof 1989.

Up until that point the employers’ organisation Veneca had not mentioned the topic of childcareat all. But at the first bargaining round Veneca came with a proposal to make 80 childcare placesavailable for employees in the contract catering sector. In all probability the employers felt thatsuch measures would inevitably come up for discussion and so preferred to take the initiative.The two trade unions responded with a proposal to reserve 0.1 % of the wage bill for a childcarefund. The final result of the bargaining was a compromise between these two proposals: the bar-gaining parties would make 80 childcare places available by reserving 0.1 % of the wage bill fora childcare fund; a contribution would also be payable by parents according to their income;and research would be carried out into the type of facilities to be provided.

The positive economic climate in the sector was an important factor in the conclusion of theagreement. As one of the employer negotiators explained: &dquo;In those days the subject of equalopportunities was very much on the public agenda. The unions wanted to pay attention to it andcame with proposals. And then we joined in. An important element in the balance was the mar-gin for wage increases. The proposals of the unions were not that dramatic in terms of wageincreases. With the wage increases of 5 or 6% we had in those days, a 0.1 % for funding a goodgoal (childcare facilities) was not such a big thing.&dquo;

During the bargaining round in 1990 no statements were made about the kind of childcare to beoffered. Initially the bargaining parties took it for granted that the childcare should be offeredin day nurseries, but this issue subsequently came under discussion. Employers took fright whenthey realised the high costs of day-care centres; added to which the organisation of childcarecentres was found not to fit in with the working conditions of most of the employees since theiropening hours did not coincide with contract catering working hours, while the central positionof the centres was inappropriate given the regional spread of the catering locations.

The decision to switch from childcare in day nurseries to care by child-minder families wasprepared in advance within the childcare working party. This working party, composed of bothemployer and employee representatives, was appointed by the joint committee with the intentionof working out how best to put into practice the bargaining results on childcare of 1990. Theidea of investigating the possibility of using child-minders was proposed within this workingparty by an individual employer who argued that the flexible orientation of child-minder fami-lies should fit better with the working conditions in the catering sector; furthermore, child-min-der families were a much cheaper option, from which he expected more employees to benefit.Interestingly enough, it was not employers’ organisation Veneca, but the Horecabond FNV who

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picked up the idea by mentioning it in its proposals for the bargaining round in 1991.The Horecabond FNV stated that the childcare in day nurseries should be expanded with thepossibility of using child-minder families. This proposal for expansion was opposite to thestandpoint taken by the employers at the beginning of the bargaining round. In spite of their earlierstandpoint, the employers’ organisation Veneca argued that the undertakings on childcare shouldbe limited as much as possible. At the end of the bargaining round of 1991 the parties agreed tocarry on with the present childcare scheme and to examine in more detail the option of usingchild-minders.

The different standpoints of the two bargaining parties continued to exist within the childcareworking party. The Horecabond FNV argued for offering both childcare in day nurseries and bychild-minders, while Veneca wanted to lower the cost of the childcare as much as possible.At the end the trade unions came to agree with the offer of care exclusively by child minders.In the worsening economic climate this was the best possible option. The parties contracted themediation organisation ’Hop Marjanneke’ to co-ordinate the allocation of places. The agreementreached within the childcare working party was recorded officially during the bargaining round of1993.

As an employer explained: &dquo;The main argument was financial, it was much cheaper.Moreover child-minder families were close by in the neighbourhood and better able to harmonisewith individual working times&dquo;. During that bargaining round the parties abandoned the conditionof offering eighty places since the much lower price of child-minders enabled more places to beoffered for the same budget. For the same reason employers agreed on the extension of the carefacilities for children till the age of twelve. Earlier they had disagreed on this additional provisionbecause it seemed too expensive.

Results

Analysis of the bargaining process according to the method of influence analysis gives a goodview of the distinctive characteristics of Dutch labour relations. Both the employers’ organisationand the largest trade union, the Horecabond FNV, have had quite considerable influence on thebargaining results, but in different ways. The Horecabond FNV made far-reaching, detailedproposals on the shape and content of equal opportunities, while Veneca reacted with moderate,generally formulated proposals which could be filled in afterwards, but with financially limitedroom for manoeuvre. The final result is a compromise between both parties, which took onconcrete shape during the process of implementation in the working parties (Bleijenbergh 1997).This mode of behaviour is typical of labour relations in the Dutch Polder model.

The results on equal opportunities cannot be explained by the presence of women during thebargaining sessions. Between 1988 and 1993 there were only male bargainers at the sessions.But the - very capable - (female) central representative on sexual harassment was stronglyinvolved with the implementation of the arrangement on the combat of sexual harassment. In addi-tion, all parties indicated the involvement of women in the preparatory stages of the bargaining,for example in the bargaining commissions. So there was influence of women in the period beforeand after the bargaining sessions.

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The bargaining results indicate the positive role that can be played by male bargainers if they feelpersonal involvement with the issue of equal opportunities - whether or not combined with clearbusiness interests. Because of the social attention attaching to the issue, especially within the tradeunion an infrastructure of expert knowledge was available. Equal opportunities officers at the levelof the national trade union federation FNV and at the level of the Horecabond FNV gave elabo-rated and detailed examples of good agreements on equal opportunities.

Employers were motivated to develop measures on equal opportunities because they felt the needto attract female employees to their companies. Re-entering women were seen as an especiallyuseful target-group. As one employer stated: &dquo;We don’t start out from a social perspective,our social responsibility is the continuity of the business. We are glad to employ re-enteringwomen, who have a service-providing attitude and are prepared to work permanently on apart-time basis and with flexible hours. This target group often has caring responsibilities forchildren or the elderly. If you want to keep them for longer, you should create facilities to enablethe combination of work and care, like calamity leave&dquo;.

It is interesting that the best results on equal opportunities were reached after the bargainingsessions in the working groups on specific topics. In these small working groups representativesof both employers and trade unions co-operated intensively on the practical implementation of thebargaining agreements. Such working groups were established on childcare and on the combat ofsexual harassment and they resulted in concrete, detailed arrangements. Because such workinggroups were not established on affirmative action and care leave, the provisions on this subjectremained more general and less successful.

The good agreements on equal opportunities were reached in a period of economic growth andconsiderable social interest in the equal opportunities question. As we saw before, several

documents were produced on equal opportunities in general and on particular topics like theprevention and combating of sexual harassment. After 1992, equal opportunities received lessattention in bargaining rounds. In that period also the temporary appointment of the equal oppor-tunities officer of the Horecabond FNV came to an end. This went together with a backdrop in theeconomic situation in the contract catering sector and a decline of social attention to equal oppor-tunities. As a trade union bargainer sighs: &dquo;It is very strange. The framework is available and wehave already put a lot on paper. But the work on women within the union gets stuck. Are we tiredof it?&dquo; This development shows the vulnerability of the success on equal opportunities. If condi-tions combine effectively, results can easily be reached, but if conditions change, the positivedevelopment is easily stopped.

Conclusion

In this article we examined which factors influenced progress on equal opportunities in thespecific agreement for the contract-catering sector in the Netherlands and have described how acombination of structural factors and individual actors played a role in the conclusion of thisagreement which involved positive input from both employers and trade unions. There was nodirect influence from women at the bargaining table but all parties claim indirect influence of

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women: they have been involved in the preparatory stage of bargaining (as head of personnel depart-ment within companies or as equality officer within the trade unions) and with the process of imple-mentation (as representatives on sexual harassment). The male bargainers, meanwhile, were involvedin the topic of equal opportunities for different reasons. Structural factors stimulated both employersand trade union bargainers to invest in equal opportunities.

An important factor for employers was the economic growth in the sector in combination with thewish to attract female employees. Re-entering women especially fitted perfectly with the type ofemployee that was needed: someone with a service-providing attitude, who is prepared to work flex-ible hours. Employers were willing to invest in this kind of employee.

Among trade union bargainers the social attention focused on equal opportunities was an importantfactor. Because of this attention an infrastructure of expert knowledge was available within the tradeunion organisation, and this was especially important in the run-up to the bargaining and in imple-menting the bargaining results. This infrastructure, together with extremely capable women tradeunionists and a lobby from the women’s movement within the trade unions, prompted the personalinvolvement of some trade union bargainers with the topic.

The way in which the positive agreement on equal opportunities was concluded is a typical exampleof Dutch labour relations, with relatively harmonious relations between the social partners andintensive co-operation on implementation of the collective agreements. Especially the fact thatworking groups of employers and representatives of trade unions were established on the specifictopics of childcare and sexual harassment contributed to the success of the arrangements on thesetopics. Although contract catering is a relatively new sector, it displays all the characteristics of theDutch Polder model. Perhaps just on account of the youthfulness of the sector, there was a strongdesire for consensus. Employers and trade unions had no direct bargaining history in the sector. Itwas even the first experience of collective bargaining for most of the employers, so that it startedout with good intentions from both sides. This could explain also why from 1992 on the co-opera-tion of the employers began to diminish. The economic boom of the new sector passed its peak, newcompetition appeared and the number of international mergers grew. So far the sector has notencountered problems with the labour supply of re-entering women.

Discussion

We can distinguish two sets of views on equal opportunities in the bargaining process in the contract-catering sector. One is the (feminist) justice view; the other is the economics-based view of societaland business profit. We believe that the above case study is an excellent example of a situation inwhich these different perspectives came together at the right time and in the right place. A new boom-ing sector is looking for a high volume of personnel for part-time contracts on irregular hours; a largesupply of mothers wants to re-enter the labour market on part-time contract in order to combine paidwork with caring for their children. A sector with above-average salary increases and thereforemoney for secondary working conditions; no direct bargaining history and a wealth of equal oppor-tunities expertise with one of the parties. These structural factors coincided in the same period.

The weight of the role of individual actors in organisations is always difficult to measure, but thatthey were a main factor in this case is, for all involved, clear and evident. Some (male) bargainers

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were very involved in equal opportunities, while there were also very capable (female) officersbehind the scenes of employers’ and employees’ organisations.

If we look at the Dutch context, we conclude that the contract-catering sector is an optimalexample of the Polder model. Not only because of the process described above whereby bargainingand implementation of new regulations is conducted by joint committees and working parties inwhich employers and employees work together on a practical level. But in our view the contract-catering sector is an optimal example of the success of the Polder model in another way also.The success of this model - the long term consensus (since 1982) between the social partners inthe Netherlands - can be ascribed to a considerable extent to the tremendous re-entry of womeninto the labour market in the last 20 years. Most of these women were willing to work in thegrowing numbers of service jobs for low pay, on flexible work schedules and part-time contracts.Because of these new ’second’ incomes in the families that traditionally lived on one income,the male breadwinners were willing to accept wage restraint for almost two decades (since 1982).Women’s work made the Dutch economic boom possible. These quickly changing gender demo-graphics at the Dutch workplace demand in the first place extensive societal investment in

new - collective or individual - care arrangements, such as childcare, parental and calamity leave.In the Netherlands these investments have taken place only very gradually, compared to the speedwith which the social security breadwinner arrangements for women have been eliminated. Thechanged gender demographics make demands, in the second place, for organisational investmentsin new personnel policies, dual-career possibilities and changing workplace cultures. The contract-catering sector gives a good example of how the players in the field cope with these changingcircumstances and how good provisions can be organised with all parties working together onimplementation.

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