The collective labor agreement negotiations in the Metal and Electrical Industry are in full swing. Or rather, they were. The last scheduled round of negotiations took place on November 25, 2025. However, we're not yet where we want to be. In this message, we'll update you on the current state of affairs.
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Employers must come up with a better offer
During the previous round of negotiations, employers offered a 2% wage increase over 12 months and rejected virtually all other union proposals. We consider this completely insufficient. Therefore, as unions, we have called on employers to seek more leeway and return to our line.
HP collective labor agreement and wage limit
A major concern is the employers' proposal to lower the wage threshold for collective bargaining agreement increases to €90.000. This represents a significant deterioration in employment conditions for a large group of employees. De Unie strongly opposes this.
Despite extensive consultation, we have not yet reached an agreement on this matter. The unions have again asked employers to clearly define which employees they believe should be covered by the collective bargaining agreement.
We will soon consult with members to hear their views on this.
Encouraging conversations about absenteeism due to illness
Despite the lack of progress on wage development and the friction surrounding the wage threshold, we were able to make some positive progress on several issues. For example, a working group meeting on absenteeism due to illness was held, with representatives from all parties.
The discussions were encouraging: all parties recognize that healthy employees are essential and that more attention must be paid to prevention. We also discussed clarifying the collective labor agreement texts, both in terms of content and language. Naturally, our guiding principle remains that this should not be at the expense of employees.
We remain critical and solution-oriented
It's clear that we're far apart on the substance of the matter. At the same time, we see that all parties are ultimately willing to cooperate. We're standing strong, but also remaining constructive and solution-oriented. For now, as far as we're concerned, the ball is in the employers' court. The lines of communication remain open, and as soon as there seems to be enough room to restart discussions, we will do so immediately.
As soon as there is more to report, we will inform our members again.
Do you have any questions, comments, or input for us in the meantime? Please contact the negotiators. jesse.van.roeden@unie.nl of peter.werger@unie.nl.
