The current collective labour agreement expires on September 1, 2026. All parties wish to agree on a new collective labour agreement. To this end, a number of consultation meetings have already been scheduled: May 21, June 4, and July 1, 2026.
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In this newsletter, we inform you about the collective labor agreement proposals that we, as De Unie, think about submitting and what you think about that.
The draft collective labor agreement proposals of De Unie
Duration
De Unie wishes to agree on a new collective labour agreement with a term of one year, from September 1, 2026, to August 31, 2027. Provided that good agreements can be reached, a longer term is open for discussion.
Income
We want to extend the current collective labor agreement with a good but also responsible wage increase.
We base our wage proposals on the purchasing power figures from the CPB in the latest forecast of March 2026:
- The Netherlands Central Planning Bureau (CPB) has indicated that purchasing power will be maintained throughout 2026 with a 2,6% increase in the collective labour agreement. Compared to the collective labour agreement period from September 1 to December 31, that is 0,9%.
- For 2027, the CPB estimates that a 3,4% increase in the collective labour agreement (CLA) is needed to maintain purchasing power. Compared to the CLA period from January 1 to August 31, purchasing power would be maintained for this period with a CLA increase of 2,2%.
To maintain purchasing power during the one-year term of the collective labor agreement, 3,1% is therefore required.
In the meantime, the CPB has presented new scenarios in response to the crisis in the Middle East, high energy prices, and rising raw material prices. To maintain purchasing power in 2026, it is now taken into account that a 2,6% increase in the collective labour agreement will certainly not be sufficient. The same applies to 2027: 3,4% is not enough to maintain purchasing power.
According to the CPB in its latest reports, a collective labour agreement increase of at least 4,0% will be necessary to maintain purchasing power. In your opinion, is there sufficient financial room for this at your company? Is your employer affected by rising energy prices and higher raw material costs? Or hardly at all?
We would like to hear your perspective on this, and taking that into account, what collective labor agreement increase would you consider reasonable and realistic?
Other proposals we intend to submit are:
- To agree on the minimum tax-deductible travel expense scheme in the collective labour agreement (thus an increase from the current €0,21 to €0,23 and later perhaps €0,25 per kilometer); also for kilometers under 10 and kilometers over 30.
- Include a home working allowance of €2,45 per day in the collective labour agreement (2026 level).
What do you think?
We ask you what you think of these proposals. Do you identify with these proposals? And of course, we also want to know if you have any other proposals that we should include in our collective labor agreement proposals letter.
You can email your response to our representative Jan Admiraal via jan.admiraal@unie.nl. You can also contact him via this email address if you have other questions.
