Labour.nl: What the heck is an OR?

In Canada, we essentially have two systems that manage the relationship between employer and employee: unionised and exploitative. Both of these options suck and for different reasons.

• Unions tend to foster a combative relationship with management and often result in both sides making unreasonable demands of the other. Strikes and lockouts are common, as are attempts to undermine the right of workers to organise, union-busting, etc.

• Non-unionised workplaces are all-too-often exploitative, using the threat of being replaced to push employees into working additional hours for free, taking pay-cuts, or even breaking the law. Conditions are often unsafe, and the atmosphere filled with distrust and animosity.

In a lot of European countries however, a third-way has been adopted, so much so that when I talk about the concept of labour unions with other Europeans, many of them don't understand the purpose of such a system.

So, what the heck is an OR? It's the Dutch incarnation of this third-way, a staff-elected council that represents employees in dealings with management. Far from being a token voice, their position has legal standing to the point where many key decisions: office hours, pension, health insurance, require approval from the OR.

The relationship between management and the OR is typically more amicable than the one you usually see between a labour unions and management in large part because the staff have more options available to them than work stoppage. The council is kept small, and is composed of people from the company, rather than an external body like a union. This means that the people you're arguing with are the same people you might eat lunch with. The same goes for the people you represent.

The meeting minutes are distributed to all staff by email, and elections are held every few years. The number of members is dictated by the total number of employees in the company, and anyone who has been with the company for six months or more may stand for election.

OR's are legally required of any company that exceeds 80 employees.

I tell you first-hand that this is the way to manage the relationship between employer and employee. It's not perfect, but I've never seen a more functional relationship in an office environment... and that's after working with ten companies over 14years in 4 different cities in 2 countries.