Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond
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| National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands | |
| Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond | |
| Founded | May 13, 1909 |
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| Members | 360,000 |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Affiliation | ITUC, ETUC |
| Office location | Utrecht, The Netherlands |
| Website | www.cnv.nl |
The Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond (Dutch: The National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands; CNV) is a federation of trade unions of the Netherlands.
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[edit] History
CNV was founded on May 13, 1909 in Arnhem as federation of several Christian unions. It was founded in reaction to the socialist NVV, which was founded in 1906. The CNV was more moderate than the NVV, it opposed the idea of class struggle and in stead oriented towards a corporatist model of the economy. It was an interconfessional union, intended to represent both Protestant and Catholic workers.
In 1912 however the Catholic bishops spoke out against interconfessional unions. All Catholics left CNV and they founded a separate Catholic union, the "Rooms-Katholieke Werklieden Verbond" (Roman-Catholic Workers' Union). The CNV orients itself towards the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, with which it forms the Protestant pillar.
After the second world war the corporatist model, which the CNV advocated is introduced in the Netherlands, this is combined with a strong welfare state. Unions get more influence in the Netherlands: the CNV becomes part of the Social-Economic Council an advisory board of government composed of representatives from unions, employers' organizations and independent scientists.
Because of the depillarization of Dutch society and the rising political polarization between left and right, the three major unions, the socialist NVV, the Protestant CNV and the Catholic NKV begin to open talks in order to found one single federation of Dutch unions. In 1974 the CNV leaves these talks, in 1976 the NVV and NKV merge to form the FNV, which is led by Wim Kok.
[edit] Activities
The most important function of CNV is the CAO-talks, over wages and secondary working conditions, it holds with the employers' federationss. It also advises government via the Social Economic Council in which other unions, the employers' organizations and government appointed experts also have seats.
[edit] Ideology
The CNV started out as a moderate, Christian-democratic union, which was opposed to class struggle and workers' ownership of the means of production, and instead oriented itself towards a cooperation with the employers' organizations and a corporatist model of the economy. Still the CNV prefers cooperating with the employers over strikes.
In recent years it has been better able to adapt to new societal trends compared to FNV. It has founded a youth union, CNV-jong to address the issues of the aging population and it has campaigned on issues of international cooperation, with a separate organization called CNV international.
[edit] Organization
The CNV is a federation of eleven affiliated trade unions. Its board is formed by four daily boardmembers (a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary and a treasurer), and the chairs of the eleven affiliated unions. The CNV has around 355,000 members. The current chair is René Paas. Although the CNV is formally independent of other organizations there are strong ideological and personal links with the CDA. Former CNV vice chair Aart-Jan de Geus currently serves as CDA minister of Social Affairs and Employment for instance.
The eleven affiliated unions are:
- CNV Bedrijvenbond: the industrial union with around 88.000 members;
- CNV Public: which represents the interests of civil servants and healthcare personnel. It has around 84.000 members;
- CNV Onderwijsbond: the teachers' union with around 56.000 members;
- CNV Hout- en Bouwbond: which represents the interests of workers in construction and woodwork. It has around 54.000 members;
- CNV Dienstenbond: the services union with around 37.000 members;
- Algemene Christelijke Politiebond: which represents the interest of police personnel and has around 21.000 members;
- ACOM: the military union;
- CNV Kunstenbond: the arts union, with around 6000 members;
- CNV Kosterbond: which represents those employed by the church;
- CNV Jongeren: the young people's union with around 1300 members.
