Staff salaries will be raised by 1.25 percent, effective 1 September 2015. The amount of the one-off bonus will be increased, as well, from €350 to €500. The additional payments will be made just before Christmas.
Employers and trade unions have finally come to an agreement. Last Thursday they signed an agreement on how to apply the provisions of the Maximum Pay Rise Agreement for the Public Sector signed in July to the collective agreement for Dutch universities. Some doubt had arisen as to whether the agreement would be able to be implemented if ABP (the National Civil Pension Fund) were to raise pension contributions. However, it was announced on Friday that these premiums will in fact be reduced by nearly two percent from 1 January onwards, effective at least until April.
Salaries will be permanently raised by 1.25 percent as of 1 September 2015 – i.e., retroactively. The current collective agreement stipulates that salaries will be raised by another percent as of 1 January 2016. In addition, the amount of pension contributions withheld by the employer will be reduced.
Moreover, staff who were hired by EUR prior to 1 September 2015 will receive a one-off bonus in December, to the amount of €500 for a full-time equivalent position. This bonus will replace the €350 (gross before tax) one-off bonus agreed in the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities, to be paid in June 2016.
Employees who were hired after 1 September 2015 and are still employed by 1 June 2016 will receive the one-off bonus agreed in the collective agreement for Dutch universities in June 2016. Said bonus will amount to €350 (gross before tax) for a full-time equivalent position. Teaching assistants, employees paid according to a young workers pay scale, employees on youth minimum wage and SOM pupils will be ineligible for the bonus.
The parties to the collective agreement will negotiate on the remaining aspects of the 2015-2016 Maximum Pay Rise Agreement for the Public Sector in 2016.
