The approximately 125,000 cleaners in the country will receive an additional 12 percent wages in the coming period. The employers have made agreements about this with the trade unions FNV and CNV, the three parties have announced. The cleaners demanded a new collective labor agreement, because with the current agreements 1.5 percent wages would only be added in a year’s time.
According to the unions, the adjustment was necessary because cleaners are “hit hard by the sky-high inflation”. As early as September, employers were urged for a new collective labor agreement. “We receive signals every day from people who can barely make ends meet,” says negotiator Jan Kampherbeek of CNV Vakmensen in response to the agreement.
It has been agreed that the staff will receive an additional 3.5 percent in November. An additional 3 percent will be added in January and another 5.5 percent in June next year. This brings the total increase to 12 percent.
More sectors are actively negotiating higher wages to compensate for the increased prices. In the distribution centers of Albert Heijn, for example, a strike was held for some time until the staff received an additional 10 percent. President Klaas Knot of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) warned this weekend of a spiral of even higher prices if wage increases exceed 6 to 7 percent.
- Albert Heijn strikes over: agreement on collective labor agreement for distribution centers
- FNV only comes with a lower wage requirement if prices rise less
- Inflation was 5.2 percent in April
