New police collective labor agreement, salaries increase by 9.5 percent

An agreement was reached on a new collective agreement for police employees. Salaries will increase by an average of 9.5 percent, the commuter allowance will be increased and there will be an election budget that will allow employees to regulate their own income. The Ministry of Justice and Security reached an agreement on this with the police unions and Police Commissioner Henk van Essen on Friday.

The salaries of police officers will be increased during the term of the collective agreement, from July 1, 2024 to November 30, 2025. On July 1 by 5 percent and on January 1, 2025, by 2 percent. In addition, the salary scales will be increased by 2.5 percent from January 1, 2024.

The increases are in addition to a salary increase already agreed in a previous agreement. According to the ministry, this brings the "income improvement" to an average of 11.5 percent.

Important issues

"The enormous workload, the tight labor market, and high inflation have a major impact on the deployment, working conditions, and purchasing power of police employees. The parties therefore entered into early consultations with each other to reach good and appropriate agreements and to offer clarity about these promptly to police employees," the ministry reported in a press release.

It was also agreed that "important future issues" would be discussed during the collective agreement, such as a "sustainable benefits package" that includes "a better distribution of the burden of irregular work for employees". In addition, the issue of early retirement was also discussed.

Security

"We demand a lot from police officers. Police officers work extremely hard every day to keep us safe," said Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz (Justice and Security). "The security that the police provide to society must also be provided to police officers. This agreement negotiated between the trade unions, the police, and the ministry offers police officers security for the coming years. This is important at a time when a lot is being demanded of the police, while the number of police officers continues to rise. The negotiated agreement also shows that the police are an attractive employer.

Police unions will present the agreement to their members on November 23.