UvA

The working paper presents a case study of pension associations for the liberal professionals (beroepspensioenverenigingen) in the Netherlands. Pension associations are organizations of the active, deferred and retired participants in a mandatory pension scheme for the liberal professions. Through their membership in the pension association, participants in these schemes decide themselves on the content of their pension scheme. Unlike most Dutch employees, these participants thus have collective voice over their pensions. Based on document analysis and interviews with stakeholders, the paper interrogates the institutional structures of these associations, their daily practices and their role within the broader occupational pension system. What emerges from this analysis is that the top-down introduction of collective voice through these pension associations has created a myriad of practices. The paper shows that the implementation of collective voice options has been complicated by three factors: the absence of a participatory culture among members, the institutional legacies of independent pension boards, and the absence of collective bargaining. Still, the pension associations have succeeded in making pension more accessible to participants and creating more checks and balances against pension fund boards.