The trade unions and universities agreed this year on a total wage increase of 4.7 percent: 3.7 percent from 1 September and another 1 percent from January 2025. But could this not have been less, considering the looming multi-million euro budget cuts, in order to retain more staff?
It’s a question that was raised more than once by staff after the announcement of the new collective labour agreement terms in the summer. Last year’s agreement had already introduced a 9 percent wage increase, the highest in years, and the university later stated that this contributed to its financial problems.
‘The people who think this way are generally in a relatively better position themselves’, says Bernard Koekoek of the FNV union. He was one of the negotiators who held discussions with the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL). ‘There is quite a difference between pay scales, and most employees do not fall into the highest brackets. We don’t want them to bear the burden of inflation.’
Hans Biemans of the UG board agrees. He adds that this year’s agreements are also designed to preserve jobs. ‘For 2024, the agreements fall well within the wage adjustment budget, and we even have a bit of room left to mitigate the effects of the previous wage agreements. As a result, we’ve also managed to save jobs.’
Retroactive compensation
The issue from last year lies in how the wage adjustment is funded. Part of the funding comes directly from the government, explains Biemans, and another part comes from grant providers like the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
‘But unlike the funding we receive from the government, NWO follows wage developments over several years, and we receive compensation retroactively. We pre-finance that part ourselves’, says Biemans.
In previous years, when the percentage ranged between 1.5 and 2.5 percent, pre-financing was never an issue. But due to last year’s significant increase, coupled with existing financial problems, it was a tough pill for the university to swallow.
Misjudged situation
Koekoek is still frustrated that universities blamed last year’s financial problems on the agreements made. ‘In hindsight, the universities have also acknowledged that they misjudged the situation. I assume they haven’t made the same mistake this year’, he says.
According to Biemans, last year’s acute problem is no longer an issue. ‘Moreover, we’ll likely have some budgetary breathing room in the coming years.’
The idea that the current wage increase is too high has partly arisen because universities blamed their financial problems partly on the collective labour agreements, Koekoek suspects. ‘This year, we made the agreements knowing that difficult times are ahead. But the fact that it will be challenging doesn’t mean we won’t make new agreements. Doing nothing is the worst choice you can make after the soaring inflation.’
Keeping up
Biemans also believes these agreements are necessary. He argues that you must consider not only inflation but also remain a good employer compared to sectors surrounding the university. ‘We saw that we weren’t particularly competitive in terms of middle-income salaries, compared to, for example, commercial entities or universities of applied sciences. We also need to support those in the middle of their careers, with young children, and who want to buy a house.’
Biemans believes that the current wage agreements represent a good step forward. However, some people still wonder if they could sacrifice a few percentage points of their salary to help save someone else’s job. Koekoek says that’s impossible. ‘“’You can’t just deviate from the wage agreements as a university. Moreover, this would place the responsibility on individuals for whether someone else’s job is at risk. That’s simply not acceptable.’
No, the problem is much larger than creative solutions, says Koekoek. ‘It’s due to government policy that jobs are at risk. We can look into it together, but the problem is so significant that we cannot change it among ourselves. The government needs to make changes, and that’s what we need to pursue collectively.’