"To prevent employees from having to accept consecutive temporary contracts for the same employer, in the future they will be able to claim a permanent contract at an earlier stage", says the Department of Social Affairs. "Not after three years, as is the case today, but already after two years." Minister Lodewijk Asscher wants to introduce the change to fight the improper use of temporary contracts. At the same time, his bill poses a drastic change of the Dutch dismissal laws; it will become cheaper to fire employees.

Universities are especially suspicious about the first part of the bill. There are tons of temporary contracts in science. First, scientists work on a temporary basis as doctoral candidates, and then they roam universities as postdocs. And many of these scientists don't finish their work in time. Doctoral candidates often need five years for their dissertation. Parliament cannot expect universities to offer their doctoral candidates a permanent contract if they need an extra year to finish, the letter states.

Postdocs, too, tend to have temporary employment contracts for their research projects, which may receive four years of funding, for example. What will happen in the future, if the work has not yet been completed by that time? It bothers academic employers, because a permanent position doesn't seem to be an option. They want to solve the issue with doctoral candidates and temporary research positions by renewing temporary contracts once again after four years - which is what's happening now as well. It's also stated in the collective labor agreement as such.

Half of the lecturers and thirty percent of assistant professors also work under a temporary contract. All in all, it involves thousands of scientists. And the ever-growing influence of temporary funds from Europe and the industry will only increase that number: seventy percent of researchers is paid from science grants, or money from companies. So things should remain the way they are, universities say. In their letter, they encourage Parliament to implement "ample possibilities regarding temporary contracts "within the academic sector".

How universities treat their employees is another issue. For example, it's not at all certain a doctoral candidate's contract will be renewed if they need several extra months to finish their dissertation. If not, young scientists have no other choice but to apply for social assistance. Worse still, academic union Vawo says temporary contracts pose a serious threat to science. The contracts are said to "impoverish, undermined, and increase workload".