Randstad and the employers’ organisation Royal Metal Association (KMU) have this week signed a cooperative agreement to improve working conditions for temporary workers in the Dutch metal industry.

The KMU is one of the largest employer associations in the country and hailed the agreement as the first of its kind in the Netherlands.

The agreement establishes a scheme called MuFlex  which will make certain improvements to staff working on a payroll-basis through Randstad Netherlands. Agency workers will benefit from the same conditions of employment, including pension rights, as direct hires.  

“An agreement on this scale has never before been reached in the Netherlands,” said the KMU in a statement to Staffing Industry Analysts. It said that the agreement will be applicable to both “regular” and “flexible” employees hired through Randstad.

The staffing firm will be the legal employer, taking the burden off KMU members, the statement read. The equal compensation of employees in both the metal and technology industry was the “most important” part of the agreement, the KMU said.

The association was unable to say how many workers will be affected by the agreement. “Together our members employ about 150,000 employees. Only employees working on payroll-basis will notice a difference because of this new agreement. Since the agreement is very new, it is still hard so say exactly how many people it will concern.”

The agreement was signed on 8 October 2012. MuFlex will be available from the end of October, and employees will be increasingly made aware of the scheme from the second half of November 2012.