Photo: the unions were campaigning using postcards for a better CAO for DLO employees.
In December the employees will also receive a one-time benefit of 1,5 percent of their annual salary. Furthermore, agreements were made on ending ‘quiet’ mini-reorganizations and increasing the retirement age.
The agreement does contain an element of uncertainty. The second half – a pay rise in October 2016 – will only take place when Wageningen UR and the unions have agreed before the 1st of July on how the unemployment arrangements can be ‘repaired’. Due to a legislative change the maximum amount of time for unemployment payment will be reduced from 3 to 2 years. The unions want to hold on to the longer duration. The parties will see in a ‘study’ how this can be put into practice.
It was hard work and I am glad it is over.
Rob van Baalen, chief negotiator on behalf of FNV government.
Rob van Baalen, chief negotiator on behalf of FNV government, is confident that everything will be alright. ‘We have agreed on the main lines, this is about filling in the technical details.’ The current agreement creates time for this, while the pay raise can already take place. In the case that no agreement is made, then the second pay raise is out of the picture. In that case the CAO will also end on the 1st of July 2016 instead of the 1st of April 2017.
The board of directors is happy that a consent was finally made, spokesman Simon Vink shares. An earlier agreement was rejected by the trade union. All in all, it took more than two years to negotiate this new CAO. ‘This agreement contains a nice pay raise of 1,5 percent’, Vink says, ‘which was high time.’ Also Van Baalen is satisfied with the result. He thinks that the offer is a lot better than the one that was being created before the summer. ‘It was hard work and I am glad it is over.’
The unions will present the agreement to their supporters. The deadline on whether it will be accepted is on the 30th of November.