Nautilus

Staff employees at Lloyd’s Register in the Netherlands have won union recognition as well as a pay rise after a nearly two-year battle which took them to the Lloyd’s head office in London.

The campaign started with two employees who sought help from Nautilus — the international union for maritime professionals — as they had been refused a pay rise despite soaring inflation in the Netherlands. The union said they would need to organise the staff into the union.

This they did, but the company still made only unsatisfactory pay offers. Eventually the union asked the staff if they were prepared to take industrial action, and more than 95% voted in favour.

This ultimately brought the company to the table and the workers were able to extract a far superior pay rise and union recognition into the bargain.