Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging
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| Full name | Dutch Federation of Trade Unions |
|---|---|
| Native name | Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Members | 26 |
| Affiliation | ITUC, ETUC |
| Key people | Wim Kok |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Website | www.fnv.nl |
The Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (English: Dutch Federation of Trade Unions; FNV) is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.
The FNV was founded in 1976 as a federation of two unions, the Catholic NKV and the social-democratic NVV. The Protestant CNV originally also participated in the talks, but it refused to fully merge into a new union. The federation was founded because of declining membership, due to depillarization and increasing political polarization between left and right. The two fused officially in 1982. Wim Kok, who had already been chair of NVV between 1973 and 1976 became chair of the new organization, which he remained until 1986 when entered parliament for the PvdA.
The FNV was crucial in the economic recovery in the Netherlands during the 1980s. It supported the so-called Accords of Wassenaar, where employee accepted lower wages in trade for more employment. During the 1990s the FNV came into a heavy conflict over reforms the WAO, the disabled act, with the cabinet Lubbers-III, in which the party's former chair, Kok, was vice-prime minister. The proposals were consequently dropped.
In the 2000s the FNV came into conflict with the Second Balkenende cabinet over the AOW, the old aged act, and the WAO, the disabilities act. A huge protest was organized in Amsterdam in 2004. The FNV became a leading member in "Keer het Tij" (Turn the Tide) an alliance of social organizations that opposed the cabinet and became involved in organizing the Dutch Social Forum, the Dutch branch of the World Social Forum in 2004 and 2006.
Although the FNV started out as a neutral union, it has a strong social-democratic orientation and strong links with the social-democratic PvdA. It is critical of both government and employers, but is also heavily incorporated in the Dutch pillarist (corporatist) system. Compared to the CNV, the other major trade union centre, the FNV is more leftwing and has more often used strikes, although the use of these actions is rare in the Netherlands in comparison to other European countries.
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