Progress collective labour agreement negotiations
On 16 February 2022, the collective labour agreement (CAO) negotiations started for a new CAO for the research institutions. The parties taking part in the negotiations are the Employers’ Association for Research Institutes (WVOI) of which NWO, NWO-I and the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) are members, and the trade unions AOb, CNV and FNV.
As usual, the CAO negotiations started with the exchange of memorandums of engagement. These contain the proposals of the listed parties for the new CAO. Besides the substantive subjects, there is a so-called salary commitment. The negotiations continued in April. It is clear that the turbulent period we are now in due to COVID-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine also impacts the CAO negotiations since it affects, among other things, the rates of inflation and purchasing power. The negotiations will continue in May.
The current CAO 2021, which ended on 31 December 2021, has been extended by a year.