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The employer's offer is far above the offer in various other collective agreements.

Entrepreneurs' Association Bus Transport Netherlands is stunned about the rejection of the collective labor agreement final offer and the announced strike by FNV Toer and CNV Vakmensen. The employers offered more than 15% salary increase over two years. In the first year the employers offered 7% and in the second year 3%. Abolishing the 5/6 regulation in 2024 would also yield an average of 5% for drivers. 

"It is really an excellent offer. We are going further with the offer than other collective agreements that are now being concluded in other sectors and we are offering more than core inflation. The unions have not negotiated, just said categorically no and pushed for action. They represent collectively less than 12% of the employees in this sector and moreover only a part of the union members voted on the final offer. Then it is very bad that a few hundred union members torpedo a justified wage increase for all 4000 employees.

Coach companies were often unable to drive in recent corona years. The average loss of turnover during corona was around 70%. Part of the lost turnover was cushioned by the government support measures, but not all of it. The war in Ukraine caused (diesel) prices to rise sharply, which cannot always be calculated. These developments have repercussions on the reserves of the entrepreneurs. Without exception, they became smaller or even evaporated.

Despite this, the entrepreneurs, almost all SMEs, implemented the agreed collective labor agreement wage increases during the corona years 2020 and 2021 (3 and 3,5%). And in the new collective labor agreement to be agreed, despite the poor economic prospects, they nevertheless came up with a proposal for a considerable wage increase. These are also difficult times for employees.

Cars for sale

The employer's offer is far above the offer in various other collective agreements. For example, AWVN reports more modest wage increases in the most recently concluded collective labor agreements. The collective labor agreement offer also more than offsets core inflation. On top of the wage offer, the employers made a one-off compensation of €500 for the increased cost of living.

Abolish 5/6 regulation

With regard to the abolition of the break arrangement, the so-called 5/6 arrangement, the unions also got their way in the employers' final offer. Coach transport is irregular. Buses regularly stop for a while at part of the transport, because the transport concerns, for example, a school trip or a football match. Unions and entrepreneurs therefore agreed in previous collective labor agreements that a six-hour shift had to be paid for for five hours. This arrangement was deleted in the proposal, which amounts to an average wage increase of 5%.

Negotiation process

The negotiations were difficult and the employers find the refusal of the final offer incomprehensible. 

"There was no understanding at all for the poor financial situation of the sector, but unions made unrealistic proposals in the autumn of 2021 that would lead to up to 35% in cost increases. They then refused to comply with the employers, so that there was no question of normal negotiations.It remained with repeating their own sets of requirements.'

According to Cahn, one cannot follow the thinking of the unions. They ask much more than is healthy for the companies and the demands are supported by unsound arguments. For example, the emphasis placed by the trade unions on inflation is not justified. After all, a large part of that inflation relates to the energy component. The government has recently taken compensatory measures for this. 

And earlier, during the difficult corona years, there was no objection to collectively agreed wage increases of 3% and 3,5% respectively. In a normal negotiation you try to come to terms, here it remained a repetition of demands. Unions have steered towards confrontation and action from the start. In this way we are heading for a collective labor agreement-free era. Entrepreneurs will soon compete on terms of employment. That can never be the intention of the unions. After all, they have been fighting against that for years, according to the secretary.

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