Flexibility and security: an asymmetrical relationship?
45 The Dutch and Danish experience suggests that behaviours, routines and informal rules can be
equally if not more consequential than detailed regulations. On the other hand, a long tradition of
social consultation and consensus building does not always guarantee a balanced and fair deal for the
partners involved in the process of social consultation.
The Dutch growth model, in particular, has heavily relied both on the consensus culture (‘overleg’)
based on high levels of trust between social actors, as well as on a corporatist system of labour rela-
tions that favoured social peace. The two main institutions of social consultation that have always
played a crucial role in the formulation of policy are the bi-partite Foundation for Labour (StAr) and
the tri-partite Socio-economic Council (SER). The Foundation is the main seat for the preparation
of joint opinions and central agreements, whilst the role of SER is to produce advice on social and
economic legislation and supervise works councils (Visser, 2005).
An outstanding example of the success of this consensus culture is the Wassenaar Agreement. In
the early 1980s, the Netherlands was suffering from a longer and steeper recession than most other
countries, and its budget deficit and unemployment rate were high. Trade unions were convinced that
sacrificing wage increases would enhance the international competitiveness of the Dutch economy
and thus lead to job creation and employment security. The weak position of unions and their aware-
ness of the gravity of the situation made them adopt a realistic attitude which led to the conclusion
in 1982 of the bipartite Wassenaar Agreement between the unions and employers’ organisations. This
Agreement, unique in many senses, stipulated wage moderation in exchange for a working time
reduction and greater labour market flexibility. As Visser and Hemerijk have pointed out: “the net
result of Wassenaar was a change in the relationship between government and the social partners from conflictual,
self-interested bargaining to a more consensual atmosphere in which it was possible to develop a common policy agenda”
(Visser & Hemerijk, 1997, in Bruff, 2008b). 46
45 According to Bruff (2008a) and the neo-Gramscian perspective, the presence or absence of a consensus culture in
any given country depends on the potential for synthesis between different versions of common sense, whilst from
the ‘variety of capitalism’ perspective it depends rather on social learning and path-dependency.
46 The outcome of the Wassenaar Agreement was less clear, however, in terms of economic performance. Undoubtedly,
wage moderation and flexibilisation of labour relations did indeed lead to a job-intensive growth and full employment.
The Netherlands experienced the most impressive employment growth among all EU countries during the 1980s and
early 1990s. But wage moderation also led to low productivity growth, a decline in the speed of technological progress
and the deterioration of the competitive position of Dutch industry (European Commission, 2005).
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