Largest Dutch union sets latest pay demand


FNV, the largest union organisation in the Netherlands, which is both a union and a union confederation, has called for a 2.5% increase in the next pay round. 


Unions have traditionally put forward their pay demands in late September, at the start of the new parliamentary season, although CNV, the smaller union confederation, no longer does so.


The 2.5% demand is less than the 3.0% which FNV called for last year, and Mariëtte Patijn, the union’s employment policy co-ordinator, wants to see employers using the difference to convert flexible jobs into permanent employment. 


Inflation is currently 0.2% (August), so Patijn argues that a 2.5% increase is still “very substantial”. The latest pay deal data, also for August, show an average increase of 2.1% across all collective agreements over the last 12 months.