Drugstore chain Etos has agreed with unions on a new collective labor agreement: all employees of stores under own management will receive 5 percent more wages. This agreement follows a period of strikes at Etos stores in December 2022 and January 2023.
Etos, part of Ahold, announced on Thursday afternoon that it had come to an agreement with the unions for this temporary collective labor agreement.
It is striking that the wage increase at Etos is now ‘only’ 5 percent and the collective labor agreement only runs for six months until the end of June 2023. A new agreement must be drawn up for the entire sector in six months’ time, which also includes staff of franchise stores . They now have their own collective agreement.
“At the moment it was not possible to conclude the collective labor agreement with the other drugstores,” says a spokesperson on behalf of Etos. “We thought it was important that there should be a collective labor agreement for our colleagues. We hope to work with the industry as a whole again in six months.”
Staff of Etos stores campaigned in recent months for a wage increase of at least 10 percent. Staff also wanted a joint collective labor agreement again.
Earlier this month, an agreement was also reached on a wage increase for municipal employees (garbage collectors) and coffee producer Douwe Egberts after strikes.
