This first online workshop in a series on current collective labor agreement themes was a success: a good response, many positive reactions to the online approach, but above all it gave us insight into points of view and opinions on the collective labor agreement theme "Cents or Percentages".
First, a look back at the online session via MS Teams. An online workshop has the great advantage of being accessible: no travel time, logging in from anywhere at your desk, and low costs (not unimportant for a trade union). A major disadvantage, however, is the lack of interaction, of emotion, of the informal aspect and networking. The hands and chat function of MS Teams only partly compensate for this. The advantage of the chat function, however, is that the threshold for introducing a viewpoint is low. In the current situation online is a great alternative.
The responses:
- Partly a percentage and partly a nominal increase was recently agreed in a number of collective labor agreements.
- In essence, employers are often in favor of a percentage increase, partly in order to remain attractive on the labor market for professionals. But sometimes they give in to the persistent pressure of the largest trade union (FNV) supported by CNV and ABW. The power of the membership counts here.
- For production companies, there is a downside to nominal increases. The gain in wages with relatively few higher-paid positions is too small for an attractive extra increase for the other scales. Leveling sure, but at the price of crooked faces between colleagues. Short-term gain but long-term harmful.
- Minimum inflation adjustment for all salary scales.
- In practice, several factors play a role: profile of the company, what happens at other companies, and especially which points are important to Synergo as a counterbalance to the nominal pressure. So: coordination with the other unions, and good contact between the negotiators and the supporters. At the end, an (online) membership consultation determines our position.
The next workshop on November 11 has the theme "Trend to bring higher salary scales outside the collective labor agreement". Register at
Following topics: 'Wage increase vs pension premium', 'Corona working from home, is it good for the company or not?', 'Sustainable employability, does this work in practice?', 'Pension agreement, what does this mean for me?', 'Reorganisations, what does it mean? this?". You will hear from us, suggestions are welcome.