Relay strike reaches the middle of the country CNV: Friday actions in the Metal & Technology region Utrecht at Lage Weide

Talking got nowhere

For weeks, the CNV, together with FNV and De Unie, tried to reach a good collective labor agreement with the employers at the negotiating table. But all that talking yielded nothing. The employers’ final offer remained stuck at an average wage increase of less than 5% for both this year and next year. “That would mean a drastic decline in purchasing power,” says Honders. ‘We believe that the loss of purchasing power of the past two collective labor agreement years should be compensated. Just like this year’s inflation. That amounts to a 12.5% ​​wage increase for one year.’

Employers refuse everything

“We also have several requirements that should make the industry as a whole attractive to work in,” the CNV director continues. ‘This is desperately needed now that staff shortages are increasing and the workload is increasing. For example, we want a fixed internship allowance, a sustainability budget, a minimum mileage allowance, more premium for the RVU and May 5 as a collective holiday. But the employers refuse everything.’

They do calculate inflation themselves

Honders is extremely surprised by this. ‘They keep saying that they want to be an attractive industry. But instead of a good collective labor agreement, they offer a pay increase that is far below inflation. While they have often already passed this on in their prices for a long time. In doing so, they do not take their own staff seriously and, as a sector, they are shooting themselves in the foot.’

More strikes follow

Earlier this week, employees in Friesland and Twente stopped all their work. Tomorrow it will be the turn of Rotterdam and Eindhoven and on Friday, in addition to Utrecht, it will also be the turn of the Alkmaar region. “Employees across the country are taking action,” says Honders. ‘We receive a lot of signals from members that they are completely fed up with the attitude of their bosses. The employers can get their act together.’

The Metal and Technology collective labor agreement applies to 320,000 employees in the metal and technology sector. This includes installation companies, metalworking companies, insulation companies, bodywork companies and gold and silversmiths.