Employees in the metals sector will stop working for a few days next week to enforce a better collective labor agreement. Negotiations for a new collective labor agreement have stalled since October. Unions and employers cannot agree on a higher wage and heavy occupancy regime for the 320,000 employees in this sector.
A 48-hour strike will begin in Friesland on Monday. Other areas will follow after that. There is a strike on, among other things, installers, metalworking companies, insulation companies and auto body companies.
In November, there was a 24-hour strike across the country, and thousands of disgruntled workers petitioned their employers, but to no avail. This is why trade unions FNV, CNV and De Unie will be taking on even tougher campaigns from next week.
Employers give half
Employers regret the actions. They say that they asked the unions several times to renegotiate, but first they wanted a concrete offer on the table. The current demand, a 3 percent wage increase, is not possible, according to employers. They don’t want to go beyond 1.4 percent.
“It is time for employers to wake up and realize that this is completely unrealistic at this time. So we will increase the pressure next week,” says one of the business leaders at CNV Vakmensen.
