Employees of drug research company ICON, where new medicines are tested, are on strike. Both in Groningen and Assen there will be strikes on Tuesday morning and all day on Wednesday.
The reason is the deadlocked collective labor agreement negotiations between the management and trade union FNV. Talks have been going on since September, but so far the two sides have failed to agree. There is great dissatisfaction among the employees, according to FNV director Chaim Korthof. In addition, it was the last straw that ICON canceled the Christmas package just before Christmas to cut costs,” says Korthof. “And that while the company is making billions in profit.”
The union is committed to a wage increase that can compensate for the high inflation of recent times, but ICON does not want to go further than a 6 percent wage increase, according to FNV.
Multinational
ICON is an Irish multinational company formerly known as PRA Health. According to FNV, the company made a profit of seven billion euros last year. The Dutch branch employs 840 people, mostly in Groningen and Assen.
