V&D employees sue over forced wage cut

A large number of V&D employees plan to sue their own board because of the mandatory salary reduction of 5.8 percent. More than a hundred employees have already indicated that they will go to court once they've received the February payslips, including the salary sacrifice, Volkskrant reports. This is according to the three involved unions, FNV, CNV and De Unie. All three unions also state that they will help with their members' legal battle. Last night more than a hundred V&D employees and FNV members gathered in both Groningen and Amsterdam to discuss going to court. Following that meeting Niels Suijker, directer of FNV, said that "a vast majority of members will certainly file a lawsuit against this unilateral measure of V&D". Last week Monday the management of V&D asked all 5 thousand of its employees to sacrifice 5.8 percent of their salaries in order to avoid a potential mass-layoff and bankruptcy. This pay cut does not come with a job guarantee, however. "You find a lot of anger among the staff", said Den Heijer of CNV. "Of course there are people who are willing to sacrifice, but only if there is a guarantee in return. Otherwise they hand in their pay, still lose their jobs in a year and then also get a lower unemployment benefit."