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

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Are there good practices of collective bargaining on equal opportunities in the Netherlands and, if so, what can we learn from them? The article answers these questions by means of extensive reference to a case-study on the Dutch contract catering sector, which has a collective agreement including detailed provisions on childcare and steps to tackle sexual harassment. Contract catering, a relatively new sector in the Netherlands, underwent rapid expansion in the 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 of organisation. As in the rest of the Netherlands, industrial relations in this sector are strongly institutionalised and the whole process of preparation, bargaining and implementation of collective agreements takes place in a consultative body for labour and management, namely the Contract Catering Joint Committee. The attention paid to equal opportunities dates from the first bargaining round conducted in the catering sector at the end of the eighties. In that period societal attention to the topic was combined with strong economic growth in the sector and the employers'wish to attract female employees. Especially re-entering women were expected to combine the right service-directed attitude with the willingness to work flexible hours. An infrastructure of (female) experts on equal opportunities from within the trade unions activated personal involvement of some (male) negotiators in the topic. During consecutive bargaining rounds framework agreements were concluded on affirmative action, parental leave, child-care provision and sexual harassment. Especially the fact that working groups of labour and management were set up on the last two topics contributed to the relatively successful outcome in respect of these arrangements.