Secondary education teachers get 3% wage increase in new contract

Trade unions and employers in secondary education have reached a new collective bargaining agreement. Secondary education workers' wages will increase by 3.5 percent, and salaries and salary scales will increase 2.75 percent retroactively from March 1, unions CNV Education and AOb announced, NOS reports

End of year bonuses will also increase by 0.6 percent. And full time workers in secondary education will receive a once-off bonus of 750 euros. This collective bargaining agreement runs until January 1st, 2021.

Hans de Jong of CNV is pleased that a collective bargaining agreement could be reached, despite the coronavirus outbreak. "Especially in the current crisis with so much uncertainty, it is important for teaching staff that clarity about working conditions is finally obtained. The old collective labor agreement had already expired six months ago, which is not appropriate in a crucial sector," he said to the broadcaster.

De Jong added that the problems with the increasing teacher shortages and the shrinking number of students in some regions have not been resolved in this agreement.

AOb director Henrik de Moel reiterated that point. "Unfortunately we were unable to make agreements about the workload, while these are desperately needed. We are still angry and disappointed that no structural money was made available last fall, with which we could have made agreements about how to tackle the high workload in this sector."