Nearly all branches of pharmacy chain BENU remained closed on 27 November. The company's employees are striking for better pay and decent working conditions. This means that hundreds of pharmacies are closed again. In the pharmacy sector, there have been actions for a new collective agreement since early September. Despite a months-long relay strike and a national day of action on 12 November, negotiations are still deadlocked. That is why the unions FNV and CNV are speeding up industrial action. The unions say that real wages have been declining for years. FNV and CNV are demanding a wage increase of at least 6%, retroactively from 1 July, and a minimum hourly wage of € 16. In addition, the unions want all hours worked to be paid, including the time needed for preparations before the pharmacy opens.
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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.