NS workers to get up to 7.5% wage hike in new collective agreement
NS and the trade unions have come to an accord on a new collective bargaining agreement early this morning. The rail company’s workers will get a 4 percent wage increase, backdated to March 1 this year. And on March 1 next year, employees will receive a further 3.5 percent hike. Higher-level positions will receive slightly less with a 3 percent increase next year.
Negotiations were tough and went well into the night. The result was “dragged from the gates of hell,” trade union FNV Spoor told NOS. VVMC and CNV were also involved in the negotiations. The unions’ members still have to approve the agreement.
In addition to a wage increase, the unions and NS also made agreements on night shifts and physically taxing work.
The unions found it unfair that some NS workers, like train drivers, are exempt from working nights while others have to work the night shift until retirement. The collective bargaining agreement now states that employees can decide whether they still want to work nights from the age of 63. That age will be gradually lowered to 61 in 2029.
NS and the unions also agreed that employees who have performed physically taxing work for 30 years or more can retire three years earlier under certain conditions.
Henri Janssen of FNV Spoor is satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. “There are always things we would have liked to see improved. We fought hard, and yesterday morning I still thought we wouldn’t reach an agreement and would go on strike again.” The unions have been negotiating with the railway company for months. NS workers went on strike four times within two weeks in June, including a full nationwide shutdown on June 8, when virtually all NS trains were suspended.
NS has been in deep financial trouble since the coronavirus pandemic, booking losses for several years. The company is losing income from tickets because fewer passengers are taking the train due to the rise of work-from-home and hybrid working, while other costs, including wage costs, continue to rise.
