University staff should get a seven-percent raise

The current collective labour agreement for university employees expires at the end of June. The negotiations for a new one began on March 6. The unions unveiled their demands this month. In addition to higher wages, they want salaries to be automatically adjusted according to inflation. Their reasoning: If prices rise, wages should rise just as much.

Cuts and layoffs
The unions also want better regulations for people who are laid off. According to them, working conditions have ‘deteriorated considerably’ in recent years, just at a time when universities are ‘going through major reorganisations’.

Universities' finances are under pressure because the number of students is declining, and the Dutch government funds them according to the number of students. The austerity measures pending approval in the Senate also threaten to affect their finances. The University of Twente has already announced a series of layoffs and reorganisations, and other universities will also have to tighten their belts.

According to UNL, the association representing research universities, a seven-percent raise would be ‘unrealistic’ in such a scenario. UNL is sitting at the table with the unions as an employer. Each year, the government determines how much more money universities will have to increase wages, but UNL says it does not know yet how much ‘wage margin’ they will have this year. Unions do not receive this information.

Not the solution
However, according to the unions, the budget cuts are no reason to moderate the wage demands. They argue that the problems universities are facing are not caused by higher salaries.

‘People have had years of high inflation, and everything keeps getting more expensive,’ says Sam Verduijn, director of FNV Overheid. ’We have managed to maintain purchasing power with great difficulty, and now we want to improve purchasing power for a change.’

As per usual, unions would also like to reduce the workload at universities, which has been too high for many years, according to the Labour Inspectorate. This year, the inspectorate will investigate whether universities have improved in this regard.

Working smarter
In its negotiation proposal, UNL is betting on ‘working smarter’ and ‘more efficiently'. Artificial intelligence is mentioned as a tool that could potentially lighten the workload.

Another point in the unions' bid: there is a good chance that university staff will soon be able to pay off their student loans in a tax-friendly manner. The unions are arguing in favour of this, and it would not cost employers anything extra.