Medical centre staff on strike over pay and workloads

Netherlands

On 28 September workers at seven university medical centres took strike action with only emergency services being maintained. This is the biggest ever action in academic hospitals which employ around 80000 workers. The FNV and CNV trade unions have rejected the employers’ latest offer which would have meant only a 1% pay rise and EUR 750 lump sum in a three-year agreement. They are calling for a 3% pay increase for each year and a minimum increase of EUR 75 a month as well as urgent action on workloads. The unions argue that excessive workloads are creating problems with increasing sickness absence and major difficulties in retaining new workers in the sector. EPSU sent a solidarity message. The NU'91 has signed the agreement which delivers a structural wage increase of 3.5% from 1 August 2022 for nurses, carers and related professions, a one-off payment of 3.5% over 2021 and a increase in the irregularity allowance by calculating the actual salary. 

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