Negotiation results for the Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes 2025-2026
On 13 October 2025, following intensive and constructive negotiations, the WVOI and employee organisations FNV, CNV and AOb reached a negotiation result on a new Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes (CAO-OI). This result strikes a balance between improving purchasing power, expanding leave provisions and promoting sustainable employability in a broad sense. The employee organisations will present the negotiation result to their members and announce by 6 November at the latest whether this negotiation result constitutes a definitive collective labour agreement. Employers will submit the negotiation result to their boards for approval.
Agreements
Below are the most important agreements that have been made:
- The collective labour agreement will run from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026.
- The amounts in the salary scales will be structurally increased by 1.9% as of 1 October 2025. As of 1 January 2026, the amounts in the salary scales will be structurally increased by 3%. This means that a wage increase of 4.9% has been agreed for the duration of the collective labour agreement.
- Every employee who is in service on 1 November 2025 will receive a one-off payment of €900.00 gross. This payment will be proportional to the extent of the employment contract and to the number of months that the employee has been in service from 1 January 2025 to 31 October 2025.
- The notice period for all employees will be two months and the notice period for the employer will be four months in all cases. For the notice period, the distinction between employees up to and including scale 12 and from scale 13 onwards will be abolished.
- In the Tailor-made Terms of Employment model (AVOM: ArbeidsVoorwaarden Op Maat), the source of the end-of-year bonus will be added and the parties have agreed on three new objectives:
- Object Leave savings for early retirement: In the context of sustainable employability and work-life balance, employees can use leave to retire early. Employees can save their extra-statutory holiday hours over a maximum period of ten years and up to a maximum of 1,040 hours (six months) for a full working week.
- Object Sustainability measures: The employer may choose to add the sustainability measures objective within AVOM. The employer will make agreements with the competent works council about the sources and objectives. Sustainability measures are understood to mean provisions that aim to create a sustainable home working environment.
- Object Repayment of student debt in AVOM: Employees belonging to the unlucky generation as referred to in the DUO student finance loan system (studying in the period 2015-2023) can use up to €1.000,00 gross salary per year to repay their student loan. The employee shall provide the employer with supporting documents of the repayment to DUO. The employer may establish rules for the administrative processing. This objective shall apply from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2030.
- The Generation Plan Scheme will be amended to a single variant with the addition of the AVOM goal of Leave Savings for Early Retirement to the collective labour agreement: 80 per cent working, 90 per cent continued salary payment and 100 per cent pension accrual. This variant will take effect on 1 January 2027. Employees who participate in the 60%-80%-100% variant before 1 January 2027 may continue to do so. The new goal of Saving Leave for Early Retirement can be used immediately after participation in the Generation Plan Scheme.
- The number of days of leave in excess of the statutory minimum that employees can save within the AVOM goal of Saving leave for adjusting working hours over a maximum period of five years will be increased from 890 hours to a maximum of 1040 hours for a full working week. The leave saved for this purpose can be used prior to participation in the Generation Plan Scheme.
- Article 9.3 (oio/PhD) adds that fixed-term employment contracts will be extended by the duration of illness during the initial employment contract if there is a continuous period of illness of at least eight weeks and, at the time of extension, there is a realistic prospect of recovery within the extended period. The general extension provisions and existing special grounds for extension remain in force in this article. The realistic possibility of completing the PhD has been given a more explicit role in determining extension.
- It will be possible to take parental leave more flexibly if business operations allow. The text of the law also clarifies and better reflects how holiday leave is accrued during paid parental leave.
- One day's leave for marriage, registered partnership or cohabitation contract, as well as for attending the marriage or registered partnership of one's own family and the partner's family, in the first and second degree, is added to special leave with pay.
- An exploratory study into a future-proof job evaluation system for the OI sector.
About the CAO-OI
The Collective Labour Agreement Research Institutes (CAO-OI) contains agreements on terms of employment, including pay and days off, which must be observed in individual employment contracts. The CAO-OI is available on the WVOI website. The WVOI represents the interests of three employers: the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and the Foundation for Dutch Scientific Research Institutes (NWO-I).