What you need to know about loss of wages
Did you strike on 30 and / or 31 January and your employer did not continue to pay for this strike? Then money has probably been withheld from your February salary. Check your pay slip, because in previous strikes the AOb sometimes crazy amounts pass by.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
Carien van Voorthuijsen will present almost ten thousand wage loss forms in 2019 AObmembers. In most cases, union members recover some of the income foregone from a strike through these forms.
Many employers seem to automatically shorten full strike days and do not check whether this is justified for each individual
Because a copy of the pay slip must be attached to the form, Van Voorthuijsen has a good idea of what employers do: "I estimate that school boards deduct full working days for about 90 percent of strikers." Anissa Khattabi is a legal policy officer for the AOb. She wonders whether that is correct. "Many employers automatically seem to cut entire strike days and do not check whether this is justified in individual cases."
Calculating the lost wages is tailor-made. How much salary the employer may withhold differs from organization to organization and from person to person. Do you have doubts about the correctness of the discounted amount? Then ask your employer how he calculated it. And check the facts below. If you cannot resolve it together and you are a member of the AOb? Then you can contact us via info @aob.NL.
1. You may only be cut for the hours you normally worked
- In the secondary education employers are allowed to shorten the scheduled teaching hours of the strike days. Whether that is with or without the add-on depends on the circumstances per employee.
- In the primary education it is smart to include your work division plan. Has your school agreed that employees must be present, for example, from 08.00 a.m. to 16.30 p.m. And would you normally have had (a) full working day (s) on 30 and / or 31 January? Then the employer may fully deduct the strike day (s).
- Ordered before educational support staff the rule applies that the work is usually place and time bound and that the employer may therefore shorten full working days in the event of a strike. But of course only if you normally also make full working days on Thursday and Friday.
2. Freedom in tasks matters
Are certain tasks and activities allowed to be carried out at your school - outside the regular lessons - at a self-chosen place and time? Then it is not self-evident to deduct those specific hours for strike day(s).
3. A high storage factor can be disadvantageous
The surcharge factor in secondary education is a percentage from which the hours for preparing lessons and marking work are settled. Normally it is beneficial if the storage factor is high. This means that you have relatively ample time to review and prepare. But on strike days, a high storage factor can be detrimental. Whether the add-on may be deducted at all differs per individual.
4. Can also go missing later
You may not yet see a strike deduction from your February pay slip. Then your employer will probably withhold the amount next month. Of course there will be no loss of wages if your school board supported the strike by continuing to pay the salary. The AOb asks members for it wage loss form for the strike of January 30 and 31 before July 1, 2020 to the AOb to send.
5. Not full coverage
With a deduction of approximately 135 euros gross per strike day, you roughly play even with the contribution from the strike fund of the AOb. In 2020, the strike contribution is a maximum of 64 euros net per day. For most teaching staff, this amount will not fully cover the discount. Striking hurts, both in the wallet and for the workload. Therefore it is a means that the AOb only deploy when members and circumstances demand it.
6. Participate
Do not forget: the mr has advisory rights on the destination of the withheld salary. This means that staff and parents can have a say in where the money that is left in the account of the school boards goes to. You can ask your mr whether this advisory right will be taken up.
If you work in primary education, you will in any case have a different pay slip in February. This month you will receive a bonus of 875 euros gross for a full-time job on top of your normal salary. There is also a supplementary payment, because the wage increase of the new CLA only took effect in January 2020 and the old CLA already expired in March 2019. In the Salary check of AOb these amounts have been passed on. The strike discount (if any) is not stated in the Salaryck, because it differs per individual.
