Netherlands -Department store V&D may cut wages of non-unionised workers -February 23, 2015

In a controversial ruling, an Amsterdam court denied department store V&D the right to unilaterally cut wages of trade union members. However, the court did not extend the same wage protection to the store’s non-unionised employees. Trade unions and management of department store V&D are in a large and mediatised conflict over an average 5.8% wage cut requested from employees. V&D is on the verge of bankruptcy after it was bought by US private equity firm Sun Capital Partners, who leveraged debts against V&D’s assets. In an effort to save the company from bankruptcy, V&D requested a temporary lower rent for the properties it rents as well as an average 5.8% wage cut. Trade unions refused the requested wage cut earlier, countering with a 2% offer that failed to reach a compromise. As the management attempted to press on unilaterally, trade unions took the department store to court demanding the current wages for all employees, unionised or not. The court ruled that unionised members’ wages cannot be cut; but the pay cut is allowed for all other employees ‘because there is insufficient evidence that non-unionised workers support the trade union position’.

English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/02/court-stops-vd-slashing-union ...  

For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.