Union demands 3.5% increase for civil servants - nothing less

Netherlands

The FNV trade union has started a series of actions in support of its pay claim for 110000 civil servants. The union is demanding an increase of 3.5% with a minimum guarantee of EUR 1000. The FNV argues that prime minster Mark Rutte has already called for a wage rise across the economy but Minister of the Interior, Kasja Ollongren, denies that there is any money for a pay rise for civil servants despite the long-term pay freeze they suffered. In the first of a number of initiatives the FNV organised a demonstration of prison workers in Utrecht and handed over their collective bargaining demands to the prison director who was then asked to communicate this to the government. The collective agreement covering civil servants ran until 31 December 2017 and trade unions broke off negotiations in February following the failure of the government to come up with any pay offer.

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