16 Feb 2024 at 14:46
Trade union FNV wants to talk to the NS again about the collective labor agreement for employees of the rail carrier. Only a small majority of 51 percent of union members voted in favor of the collective labor agreement. The union believes that there is not enough support.
“Other unions have voted against and those in favor are also critical of the negotiation result,” says FNV director Henri Janssen. The union members believe the proposed wage increase of 6.6 percent is not enough to compensate for last year’s inflation. Wages would rise faster in other public transport companies.
Furthermore, the FNV supporters believe that the exemption from night shifts for older employees has not been applied fairly. “In one position this is possible from the age of fifty, in another position only from a much higher age,” the FNV writes in a statement.
All in all, there is too little support for the current agreement, Janssen concludes. “It would have been a different discussion if there had been 10 percent more voters in favor. But the support depends on more factors.”
When the collective labor agreement negotiations in 2022 came to nothing, NS staff stopped work several times. Travelers throughout the Netherlands suffered from this. Ultimately, the staff managed to negotiate more than 9 percent more wages until the end of 2023. According to the union, there is no strike for the time being.
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Public transportNSFNVLabour marketEconomy
2024-02-16 13:46:06
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