Railway operator NS has made a “final” offer to railway unions of a 4% pay rise this year and 2.75% in 2026, in an effort to head off further rail strikes. The previous offer, which the two biggest unions FNV and VVMC had rejected, was for a 3.25% increase in 2025 and 2.75% the following year. The state-owned company said it would also improve early retirement arrangements for staff in physically demanding jobs, allowing them to stop work at the age of 64, and introduce a transitional scheme for those who would otherwise miss out. The unions had called for a 7% rise this year and a further increase in 2026. In the previous two weeks, the unions had organised a series of 24-hours strike but said they would suspend further strike action pending further talks on the final offer.
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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.
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