Dutch agreement includes provisions for ‘rainbow families’

As well as pay rises, the agreement for the Dutch insurance industry, signed on 6 January, includes new clauses on what it calls “rainbow families”. It notes that “families come in all shapes and colours”. It therefore extends the definition of parent to “the actual caregiver or partner of the employee”, thereby providing parental leave to individuals who would previously have been unable to access it.

The deal also including a clause which states that “when an employee has to undergo medical treatment in connection with gender reassignment, she or he is given leave for the period that is necessary for this”.

In addition, the agreement, which runs for two years from 1 January 2022, improves early retirement provision. But on pay, as the FNV union says, there is not much room for celebration, as there are two 2.75% increases, on 1 February 2022 and 1 January 2023, at a time when inflation is running at 5.7% (December 2021).