Dutch unions in ‘small metal’ bash out 3.5% deal

Unions and employers have reached agreement on a pay increase for the 325,000 workers in what is known as the “small metal” sector in the Netherlands. These are workers in lift installation companies, garages and similar smaller operations.

The agreement runs from 1 May 2013 to the end of February 2015 and provides for a 1.5% increase in basic rates from 1 October 2013. However, increases in other allowances mean, according to union calculations, that the deal is worth 3.5% overall.

The settlement comes shortly after the FNV, the largest trade union confederation in the Netherlands, called for 3% pay increases. Negotiations coordinator Mariëtte Patijn said that “with an inflation rate of 2.75% and years of people losing purchasing power, 3% is a very responsible wage demand”.

Official figures for the third quarter of 2013 show negotiated pay rising by 1.2% a year.

The next big test will come in the so-called “large metal” sector, which covers large employers such as the motor and electronics industries, where the previous agreement expired at the end of June.