Higher minimum wage and generation plan in collective labor agreement for research institutions
A higher minimum wage, a 2,6 percent wage increase and a generational plan. These are the most important results in the negotiations on the collective labor agreement for the research institutions, including the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).
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“We got the most out of it,” says AObnegotiator Donald Pechler about it negotiator agreement. The negotiations were in fact overshadowed by uncertainty about what the pension premium will do next year. If the premium goes up, as many fear, the wage margin will decrease. Furthermore, reports of a possible upcoming recession cast a shadow over the negotiations. The term of the collective labor agreement is therefore limited to a clear period of one year: from 1 January to 31 December 2020.
A 2,6 percent wage increase in one year will yield the same amount in that year as five percent in two years
Due to the short term, the wage increase of 2,6 percent does not seem too high. “That's cosmetic,” Pechler warns. “Most collective labor agreements have a longer term, and then the percentage is higher. You can roughly compare the 2,6 percent in one year with 5 percent in two years. That already sounds very different. ” With the current percentage, the pay rise in the collective labor agreement for research institutions is in line with the pay rise in the collective labor agreement for primary education.
Bottom
There is also a floor of a thousand euros in the wage increase. Employees who gain less than a thousand euros in the whole of 2020 will receive the difference in July.
Generation plan
Furthermore, according to the negotiation agreement, on which the constituencies of employers and employees have yet to decide, employees at the research institutions can make use of a 'generation plan'. “From five years before their state pension, employees are entitled to a reduction in working hours by one or two days,” says Pechler. "The employer pays fifty percent of the wages on the leave, and the pension accrual and the premium distribution remain as it was." And the hours that are released can then be taken by younger employees.
Minimum wage
The minimum wage has also been increased to 14 euros per hour. And employees will be entitled to two days' leave per year for carrying out 'social activities that improve social cohesion in society'.
Employment opportunities
Finally, it has been agreed that a one-year employment policy applies in the event of reorganisations: employees therefore remain employed for another year as standard. And then the employee can choose between the transition payment and a subsequent payment. “Employment will be maintained for as long as possible. And if things go wrong, the employee has a choice, ”says Pechler. "I also think that is a great result."
In case of dismissal outside a reorganization, an employee is entitled to both the transition payment and the subsequent payment.
