Cyclical unemployment
FOSAG, Dutch member of UNIEP, achieved an agreement with the Dutch government to order paintings in public buildings mainly in wintertime. UNIEP encourages national painters associations to follow this example. The Dutch prime minister Balkenende wrote to FOSAG:
Dear Mr Van Walsem,
In your letter dated 12 December 2006 you approached me on behalf of the Royal Dutch Association of Painters and Decorators (FOSAG), the Trade Union Federation (FNV) and the Christian Trade Union Federation (CNV) to coordinate efforts within the Dutch government aimed at finding solutions to the problem of seasonal unemployment among painters. I responded positively and promised that I would keep you informed of any concrete developments in this area.
I am therefore delighted to be able to inform you that the Council of Ministers has taken a series of decisions designed to reduce cyclical unemployment among painters. The decisions reached are as follows:
Ministers will ensure that any interior painting work commissioned by their departments and related services or bodies will only take place from November until March, unless there are compelling reasons not to do so.
The Minister of Housing, Communities and Integration (WWI) will instruct the Government Buildings Agency to carry out any painting work on the exterior of the buildings under his management as far as possible during the months from November until March.
The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) will discuss the issue of cyclical unemployment among painters with the VNG (Association of Netherlands Municipalities), the Association of Provincial Authorities (IPO) and the UvW (Associa?tion of Water Boards) in order to examine the extent to which other government bodies can help in finding a solution.
As you can see, the Cabinet is making major efforts to shift both interior and exterior painting work on government buildings from the summer to the winter.
Your letter suggests that there are no longer any physical reasons why painting work should not be carried out throughout the year. Spreading the work across the year is therefore an organisational challenge for the government as the commissioning authority and for your members as contracting parties. During the contacts my Ministry has had with FOSAG it has also emerged that you are working on logistical models on behalf of your members designed to ensure painting work can be arranged as smoothly as possible at all times of the year. I therefore trust that we can rely on the active support of you and your members in solving any organisational problems that may arise as a result of the decisions we have made.
I would like to thank you for your suggestion and wish you success in your continued efforts to reduce cyclical unemployment in your industry.
J P Balkenende
Prime Minister
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