Employees at the University of Groningen will receive a 2-percent pay raise starting 1 July. In addition, all salary scales will be increased by 100 euros, and employees will receive a one-time payment of 350 euros no later than October.
These updates come from the new collective labour agreement announced on Tuesday. On average, the total wage increase amounts to 4.2 percent. The labour unions had requested a 7-percent raise.
This is the first year that wages will increase not only by percentages but also by fixed amounts—actual euros. ‘The glass is half full, we say to each other. Because indeed, it’s half cents, half percents’, says UG professor Laura Batstra.
Cents, not percents
Batstra was one of the initiators of a Groningen-based petition asking the government and the umbrella organisation Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) for a new collective agreement based on ‘cents instead of percents.’
The petition was mostly signed by professors and associate professors. Percentage-based raises increase wage inequality, they argue. ‘The net result is that lower salary scales receive more and higher scales receive less. And that’s obviously a wonderful outcome,’ Batstra says.
Income redistribution
The unions have been calling for more income redistribution in the collective agreement for years. When wages are raised by percentages, the highest earners benefit the most. When they are increased by fixed amounts, it’s the lower earners who benefit more.
Batstra wrote about this earlier this year on the education platform ScienceGuide. ‘Groningen colleagues responded enthusiastically, which led us to start the petition. We then gauged interest nationally and found enthusiasm there as well’, she says.
‘We’re certainly not the first to ask for this—lots of groundwork had already been done. But the fact that this push came from the well-paid employees themselves may have made a real difference.’
The result
The outcome is that everyone will receive a 2-percent raise starting 1 July, and each salary scale will be increased by 100 euros from that date. ‘It will be paid out no later than October, but everyone is entitled to it from 1 July,’ says Manon van Essen of the CNV union. ‘That means if it’s paid later, people will receive the increase retroactively.’
The one-time gross payment of 350 euros is based on a full-time contract. Employees who work part-time will receive a pro-rated amount based on their hours. Although the agreements have been reached, union members still need to approve them.
Employability fund
In addition to the wage increases, 45 million euros—spread across all Dutch universities—has been allocated for employees who may lose their jobs in the coming years. Even though the government has collapsed, the planned major budget cuts have not been cancelled. This means universities must seriously consider reorganizations.
The employability fund is intended to support those who need to transition to new jobs. This could include help finding new employment, financial support for retraining, and in some cases, extending the notice period. The latter is especially important for international staff whose residency in the Netherlands depends on their employment.