De Unie, in your interest

Your collective labor agreement and industry

Shell non-CAO workers are organizing themselves

31 August 2022

At the very beginning of 2022, a number of Shell employees contacted De Unie. These are employees who do not fall under Shell's collective labor agreement, the so-called outside collective labor agreements.

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The non-CAO workers have organized themselves

The employees have organized themselves since the beginning of 2022. The group of employees who have contacted us have created their own Yammer page where they can track the progress of their conversations with HR and with De Unie shares with Shell employees. In addition, nearly 400 employees have joined De Unie. You are also a member De Unie. That is why you are receiving this news item.

A first member report, an introductory meeting with Shell HR

The group of non-CAO employees who are in direct contact with me has grown from 3 Shell employees to 6 Shell employees. They represent you and your colleagues De Unie please. Moreover, for me they are the eyes and ears to the workplace of the Shell employees outside the collective labor agreement. In trade union terms, we call these direct contacts executives. Since March 2022, I have been advising executives on how best to bring the issues at stake to Shell's management. The initiative of the executives has led to a number of conversations with Emily van der Wyck and Wouter van der Heijde of HR. Because Shell has not yet specifically addressed the wishes of the population outside the collective labor agreement, the dissatisfaction and frustrations have not yet disappeared. In fact, those outside the collective labor agreement have increasingly organized themselves in recent months as members of De Unie or as a follower of the internal Yammer page.

That prompted Shell to De Unie for an informal introductory meeting, together with three executives. In that conversation we were also able to indicate the main points of the wishes of the non-CAO employees. The introductory meeting took place on Friday, August 26, 2022. Emily van der Wyck, Wouter van der Heijde and Marloes Michon were present from HR Shell. Those outside the collective labor agreement were Leo van Driel, Karen Geris and Martijn van Winsen. The conversation was an informal one. This means that the content of the conversation cannot be shared with those who were not present at the conversation. That may seem strange, but it ensures that everyone has the comfort to say everything freely. We have therefore been able to highlight the key points of our dissatisfaction and wishes.

Those key points are not new or a secret. After all, it is what I have been discussing with the executives since the beginning of this year.

What is it about?

Firstly, it is about the fact that the wages of people outside the collective labor agreement have barely increased in the last 14 years. Their purchasing power has therefore fallen sharply, especially now that inflation has been solid for a year. We therefore believe that Shell should take a firm step in this direction.

The second important point is the current merit structure. There are more companies that have a merit structure similar to that of Shell. This often includes an increase with the CPI or the derived CPI as a fixed component as a fixed component. That is not the case at Shell. In both situations, such a salary structure always leads to dissatisfaction among those outside the collective labor agreement. Because the collective labor agreement wages usually rise faster than the salaries of the non-CAO employees. In addition, Shell does not apply the merit structure for non-CAO employees in the same way everywhere. For example, your employer applies the merit for Sales differently than for non-Sales employees.

We believe equal growth for everyone (collective labor agreement, non-collective labor agreement, Sales) is fairer. The assessment cycle is there to differentiate in wage growth on a personal level. In addition, a salary that consists more of fixed components and less of variable components gives the employee more peace of mind and gives him/her more opportunities in social interaction (for example when buying a house). We therefore advocate that Shell review the current salary structure for non-CAO employees.

In addition to these two points, other issues – such as a high workload – also play a role in the dissatisfaction of employees.

What now?

Various companies in the Netherlands have special collective labor agreements for senior staff. Now that is not a goal in itself for us at Shell, but it can help to give the whole of the terms of employment of those outside the collective labor agreement a solid and stable status. The advantage is also that a collective labor agreement has to be agreed again periodically. As a result, the terms of employment of those outside the collective labor agreement remain a structural topic of discussion.

Be that as it may, the discussions with HR Shell have not yet led to concrete results. Shell listens carefully to us, but the experience of the past few months has taught me that those concrete results will not come naturally quickly. I will therefore soon be consulting with the executives to coordinate the ideas I have for the next steps we can take. to make. As soon as we have made choices in this regard, I will inform you about this.

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Questions or remarks?

Do you have any questions or comments? Then please contact me. I can be reached at hans.korver@unie.nl and at 06-5252 2073.

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