Unions demand 6 per cent pay rise for university staff

Trade unions AOb and FNV want salaries at universities to increase by 6 per cent and to rise automatically with inflation in future. They also want to improve the position of pregnant employees.

The current university collective labour agreement expires at the end of June. The unions AOb and FNV will sit down this week with universities’ association UNL to negotiate new employment conditions.

The unions are calling for a pay rise of six per cent. According to them, this should be paid out ‘in cents rather than per centages’, so that employees on lower incomes benefit proportionally more. They also want wages to follow inflation from now on; if prices rise, salaries should increase as well.

Contract extension during pregnancy

The unions also want to improve the position of pregnant employees. They are demanding that postdocs on temporary contracts are entitled to an extension of their contract if they take pregnancy or maternity leave.

“This gives postdocs the time to complete their research properly and to enjoy their leave”, says Donald Pechler, board member of the General Education Union. “At present, they often keep working, even though universities are reimbursed for the leave by the UWV.” The unions are also calling for a one-month contract extension for postdocs who are breastfeeding or expressing milk.

Right to disconnect

Another demand is that the ‘right to disconnect’ be included in the collective labour agreement, so that university staff cannot simply be called for every minor issue. Outside working hours, employees should not be expected to be available, the unions argue.

They also want improved overtime compensation, particularly for lecturers in lower pay scales with temporary contracts. They often have a temporary contract of 0.8 full-time equivalent, but in practice work full-time. This needs to change: “They should receive compensation for overtime or, better still, a permanent contract for a full-time position.” AOb and FNV hope that a new collective labour agreement will be in place before the end of June.