Union wins “significant” pay raise for security guards, up to 40% boost at Schiphol

Many security guards in the Netherlands will see their salary increase by over 20 percent in the near future. Security guards working at Schiphol Airport may even see their wages become 40 percent higher, said labor union CNV on Tuesday.

The union announced it closed a deal for an extension of its collective bargaining agreement with the security sector, which employs 20,000 people. The contract extension will last until April 1, 2024, nine months later than the current agreement.

The security guards’ wages will increase in two stages. The first is a retroactive raise of 14.5 percent that dates back to January 1. Another increase of 6 percent will follow on January 1, 2024, plus an additional inflation raise based on the consumer price index, and equivalent to a maximum of 2.5 percent. The CPI is a measure to provide insight into how much consumers spend on goods and services.

Schiphol Airport’s security guards will see even more improvement, because a previously agreed allowance of 2.50 euros gross per hour has now been included in the collective labor agreement. The person who negotiated the deal for CNV, Erik Honkoop, is happy about this. "This also offers the security officers at Schiphol a good perspective for the longer term."

Staff shortages in the security department at Schiphol led to major problems last year. Long queues that often extended outside of the departure halls started last year with the late spring holiday period in April. This continued for several months, and even after the summer. Since then, Schiphol has said it expects to be able to recruit enough security guards to prevent problems such as last year.

It has also been agreed that the working week for all security guards will be shortened from 38 to 36 hours, according to CNV. In addition, the obligation to work at least 144 hours every four week period will also disappear.

Honkoop expects that this collective agreement with a "substantial but well-deserved wage increase" will provide some peace in the sector. Although the short-term collective labor agreement still has some last remaining pieces that need to be completed.

Workers still have to deal with irregular shifts and "unworkable schedules," Honkoop said. There must also be more respect and better recognition for the profession. "We have to work hard in the coming year to restore the profession to its former glory," said Honkoop.