Real wages have been falling for many years. At the last round of negotiations, union LANV was able to stop this trend and at least achieve slight real wage increases. This development is to be continued in the upcoming negotiations in autumn. Real wage increases secure the purchasing power of the population. While for many employers the times of rising prices are over as a result of lower import prices, the opposite is the case for employees. The cost of living, especially housing costs and health insurance premiums, are rising continuously. Inflation has settled at around 1.5%. Accordingly, the union demands will be between 2.0 and 3.0%, depending on the sector. In the past wage negotiations, it was encouraging that employers realized that they should gradually reduce the highest working hours in Europe. LANV will continue on this path in order to further improve working conditions.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.