Working poor in the Netherlands?

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 612-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Valkenburg ◽  
Harry Coenen

This contribution deals with the question of the existence of 'working poor' in the Netherlands. The rest of the world tends to see the Netherlands as a success story. It is against this background that we investigate whether there are people in the Netherlands that are in paid employment, but are nevertheless confronted with problems of poverty. The statistical data available at the macro-level give clear indications of the existence of 'working poor'. In the light of this fact, the issue of the 'working poor' should be given a more prominent place on the political and trade union agenda. The trade unions, in particular, should play a far more active role. They should make more detailed studies of the problem, taking as their starting point the day-to-day experience of those affected, and should design measures that are commensurate with the interests of these people.

1994 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Brown

Comparatively little of a scholarly nature has been written about Indonesian trade unions, particularly on the two decades from 1945 to 1965 when, like the political parties to which so many of them were affiliated, the unions had their heyday. This paper focuses on the development of trade unions in one specific industry: refined sugar production. The period to be examined—1945 to 1949—runs from the proclamation of Indonesian independence by Sukarno and Hatta, through the revolution fought against the returning Dutch, to December 1949 when the Netherlands finally acknowledged Indonesian independence. It was during this period that the major post-war sugar industry unions were established. The circumstances surrounding the establishment of these unions will be examined, along with their leaders and members, ideological leanings and political and industrial objectives.


Res Publica ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-65
Author(s):  
Henk Dejonckheere

In this contribution, different elements which clarify the influence of the four yearly social elections on workers'participation are brought together. The author explains that representatives of only two advisory bodies on company level are elected. Nevertheless the social elections have an effect on a broader scale. The elections play a part in the protection of representatives in the trade union delegation, a third representative body on company level. Furthermore the elections can affect the relations which are situated above the company level (relations inside a trade union, between different trade unions and possibly hetween trade unions and the world of politics). Moreover a growing package of powers is granted to the workers' representatives. There is however an important difference between the social and the political elections. Political elections can cause a genuine change of power, social elections on the other hand can never change the postwar basic compromise: the employer preserves most of the decision power.The author outlines furthermore the battle necks of this participation mechanism. The most important bottleneck certainly is the low turn out of candidates for the social elections. For the first time this problem is analysed sectoraly over a longer period of time. It is concluded that there are great differences not only between the economic sectors and the non-economic sectors, but also between the economic sectors themselves. The author also indicates that the decline of active participation in the economic sector since 1975 is mainly situated in seven sectors, which deliver altogether 60% of the mandates in the profit sector. Finally the author touches upon two more bottlenecks, which are already discussed before but which remain nevertheless very important: the low presence of women as candidates and likewise in the distribution of seats, furthermore the relatively great amount of invalid votes in the electoral colleges of workers and young people.


2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Kurowiak

AbstractAs a work of propaganda, graphics Austroseraphicum Coelum Paulus Pontius should create a new reality, make appearances. The main impression while seeing the graphics is the admiration for the power of Habsburgs, which interacts with the power of the Mother of God. She, in turn, refers the viewer to God, as well as Franciscans placed on the graphic, they become a symbol of the Church. This is a starting point for further interpretation of the drawing. By the presence of certain characters, allegories, symbols, we can see references to a particular political situation in the Netherlands - the war with the northern provinces of Spain. The message of the graphic is: the Spanish Habsburgs, commissioned by the mission of God, they are able to fight all of the enemies, especially Protestants, with the help of Immaculate and the Franciscans. The main aim of the graphic is to convince the viewer that this will happen and to create in his mind a vision of the new reality. But Spain was in the seventeenth century nothing but a shadow of former itself (in the time of Philip IV the general condition of Spain get worse). That was the reason why they wanted to hold the belief that the empire continues unwavering. The form of this work (graphics), also allowed to export them around the world, and the ambiguity of the symbolic system, its contents relate to different contexts, and as a result, the Habsburgs, not only Spanish, they could promote their strength everywhere. Therefore it was used very well as a single work of propaganda, as well as a part of a broader campaign


Author(s):  
James Kennedy ◽  
Ronald Kroeze

This chapter takes as its starting point the contemporary idea that the Netherlands is one of the least corrupt countries in the world; an idea that it dates back to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. In this chapter, the authors explain how corruption was controlled in the Netherlands against the background of the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic, modern statebuilding and liberal politics. However, the Dutch case also presents some complexities: first, the decrease in some forms of corruption was due not to early democratization or bureaucratization, but was rather a side-effect of elite patronage-politics; second, although some early modern forms of corruption disappeared around this period, new forms have emerged in more recent times.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Atnike Nova Sigiro

<p>This article was formulated based on interviews with 5 (five) trade union confederations from a number of confederations in Indonesia, namely: Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Nasional (KSPN), Konfederasi Sarikat Buruh Muslimin Indonesia (KSarbumusi), Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Seluruh Indonesia (KSBSI), Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI), and Konfederasi Kongres Aliansi Serikat Buruh Indonesia (KKASBI). This article seeks to explore the efforts made by the trade union confederation in promoting gender equality - specifically in advancing the agenda for the prevention and elimination of sexual violence in the world of work. This article was compiled based on research with a qualitative approach, with data collection methods through interviews and literature studies. The results of this study found that the confederations interviewed had already set up internal structures that have specific functions on issues related to gender equality, gender-based violence, and women’s empowerment; although still limited and on ad-hoc basis. This research also finds that the role of the trade union confederation is particularly prominent in advocating policies related to sexual violence and gender-based violence in the world of work, such as advocating the Bill on the Elimination of Sexual Violence, and the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 22-42
Author(s):  
Constantine Michalopoulos

The story of Eveline Herfkens, Hilde F. Johnson, Clare Short and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, all of whom, with different titles became ministers in charge of development cooperation in the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and Germany in 1997–8, and what they did together to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality in the war against global poverty, starts with a short discussion of their background. This is followed by a discussion of the political situation and the different government arrangements that determined development policy in their countries at the time. The last part of the chapter reviews the beginnings of their collaboration which focused on ensuring that the debt relief provided to highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs) in programmes supported by the World Bank and the IMF resulted in actually lifting people out of poverty.


2007 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-388
Author(s):  
S. Drakopoulos

The starting point of this paper is the idea that trade unions and individual workers pay attention to wage settlements in similar sectors of the economy. The foundations of the concept of comparison wage can be found in other social sciences and also in the literature of psychological economics. Despite the fact, however, that comparison — or reference — wage enters the decision making of the union (i.e. the union utility function), the concept has not received much attention in connection with union decision making. In this paper, a union utility function is employed incorporating the concept of comparison wage. The analysis is conducted in a bargaining framework and the results show the effects on the optimal wage of important variables like comparison wage, unemployment benefit, union power and of the weight that the union places on the comparison wage.


1953 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard S. Morris

Five years ago the Comintern loomed once again as a spectre on the European horizon with the founding in Poland, September 1947, of the Information Bureau of the Communist Parties of the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia (expelled June 1948), France, and Italy. It has since become both fashionable and convenient to identify the “Cominform” with all aspects of international Communist activity, ranging from the most general of policy directives to an isolated Communist-led strike. The indiscriminate identification of “Cominform” with international Communist activity provides the layman with a convenient stereotype which spares him the trouble of further inquiry. For the student of Communism, however, this lack of precision merely results in obscuring the actual role of the Cominform, as it is known to us, and more particularly, its function within the configuration of various covert and overt instrumentalities of the international Communist movement. To speak, for example, of a “Cominform” policy of collectivization or of a “Cominform” purge trial in the Balkans, or to suggest by “Cominform” the whole web of controls of national Communist parties maintained by the USSR is to ascribe a role and importance to the Cominform that it simply does not have. For without minimizing the importance of the function the Cominform has come to discharge, it may be said that its role is essentially that of a central, but by no means the most important, propaganda instrument of the international Communist movement, designed primarily to provide public guidance and information to the leadership of various national Communist parties. Thus Pravda and the USSR radio broadcasts furnish daily guidance to the international Communist movement, and the World Federation of Trade Unions is continuously engaged in attempting to bring trade union activity in line with Communist policy.


1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 8-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Miller

Stress management programmes for trade union officials still remain underdeveloped. This article seeks to highlight some of the methodological problems in trying to mount such programmes within the political context of contemporary trade unionism. The author argues that a much more “holistic” approach towards the “management of discontent” is necessary.


1978 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 416-436
Author(s):  
Paolo Farneti

The problem of ‘tutelage’ of trade unions by political parties in italy must be seen against a background of: the structural conditions of the labour market (where trade unions are active) and those of the ‘political market’ (where parties are active) as masses for manoeuvre used to attain certain aims; the characteristics of the leadership of the trade unions and those of the political parties; the ‘styles of leadership’ (including the conduct of conflict) by trade union and party leaders.


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