Netherlands: Salaries of University Employees to Increase by 4%

Universities and employee organizations in the Netherlands have reached a negotiation settlement on the Collective Labor Agreement at Dutch universities for 2022/23, Universities of the Netherlands (UNL), a network of 14 Dutch universities, has announced.

In a press release issued lately by UNL, the parties expected to sign the Collective Labor Agreement have agreed that the salaries of university employees will structurally increase by 4 percent on July 1, 2022.

The final Collective Labor Agreement, according to the statement, will be concluded by June 9, at the latest, Erudera reports.

In addition, the agreement foresees a one-off payment of €400 gross in proportion to the size of the employment, while for employees who receive the minimum hourly salary at the university sector, the amount under the same conditions is €750.

The press release further notes that universities, along with employee organizations, will begin a joint study in September this year to determine how the contractual position of lecturers can be improved when the next Collective Labor Agreement is reached.  

“In particular, we are looking at the possibility of offering more permanent contracts. The results of this study form the basis for the next collective labor agreement,” the media release notes.

The member of the Executive Board of the VU and chief negotiator on behalf of UNL, Marcel Nollen, said that university and employee organizations have considered that there is a need for a clear career perspective for lecturers that recognizes their contribution to higher education sector.

“Good employership is paramount here,” Nollen added.

UNL also announced there will be improvements in the parental leave scheme starting from August 1, 2022, meaning that the continued salary during parental leave will increase to 70 percent in the first year of the child’s life.

Moreover, the condition that an employee is eligible to receive a partial payment during parental leave will no longer apply if the employee has been employed at the institution for at least one year.

Universities of the Netherlands stressed that the Collective Labor Agreement will be effective until March 31, 2023, and will apply to more than 57,000 employees working in the higher education sector. 

According to data by UNL, as of December 31, 2020, the Dutch universities employed total of 57,642 staff, equivalent to 49,437 FTEs, in permanent or temporary job positions.

Out of 57,642 employees, 3,555 are employed as professors, 6,383 as assistant professors, 5,297 as teachers, 4962 as researchers, 9,721 as Ph.D. candidates, and 24,535 as support staff.