{"id":3109,"date":"2016-06-28T16:05:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T14:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/06\/28\/hoger-loon-aan-universiteiten-maar-nog-altijd-een-cao-conflict\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:10","slug":"hoger-loon-aan-universiteiten-maar-nog-altijd-een-cao-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/06\/28\/hoger-loon-aan-universiteiten-maar-nog-altijd-een-cao-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"University staff will receive pay rise, but collective agreement remains subject of much debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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De onderhandelingen over een universitaire cao zitten nog steeds muurvast<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>

The unions are far from impressed with the pay rise announced by Dutch universities last week. Negotiations about a new collective agreement for Dutch universities are at an impasse, but even so, university employees\u2019 wages will go up by 0.8 percent, retroactively, from 1 January of this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch unilateral decisions are exceptional\u201d, said Donald Pechler, a negotiator for the union representing academic staff (VAWO). \u201cThings haven\u2019t changed for us. The parties are still in disagreement. We wish to discuss a reduction of our workload and sustainable employability for university employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018So be it\u2019<\/h3>

Other unions are saying the same thing. \u201cSo be it\u201d, said Jan Boersma of FNV Overheid [the public sector-oriented component of FNV trade union] in response to the pay rise. \u201cWe also believe that employees are entitled to the money which is now being distributed by the universities, but there\u2019s more to the story than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNV Onderwijs [the education-oriented component of CNV trade union] concurs. The unions are currently visiting all Dutch universities to talk to their rank and file. The final meetings for the time being, with Open University and Maastricht University, are scheduled for 5 July. After that, the negotiations will not be re-opened until after summer.<\/p>\n

Umbrella agreement<\/h3>

The conflict between the unions and the universities is mainly about the Maximum Pay Rises Agreement, a kind of umbrella agreement for the entire public sector signed last autumn. The agreement states that all sectors must offer a five-percent pay rise to their employees, but no one is sure how to arrive at this percentage.<\/p>\n

The universities are including pay rises awarded since January 2015 in their calculations, but the unions refuse to include these. They feel that these pay rises were awarded prior to the Maximum Pay Rises Agreement being signed, and must therefore be excluded from the calculations.<\/p>\n

'Sustainable employability'<\/h3>

In addition, employees are mostly after more job security and a reduced workload, according to FNV\u2019s Boersma. \u201cIn their opinion, that\u2019s what this is all about\u201d, said Boersma. \u201cThe 0.8 percent is a nice gesture, but it doesn\u2019t satisfy their requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong other things, the requested \u2018sustainable employability\u2019 is about how to deal with older employees\u201d, Boersma explained. \u201cBut it\u2019s also about women returning from maternity leave and wishing to make up for falling behind on their research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about the conflict about the collective agreement<\/h2>