In January 2022 De Unie came into the picture with a group of people outside the collective labor agreement at Shell. The wage development of people outside the collective labor agreement has been meagre over the past 10-15 years. Especially if you compare that to the Shell employees who do fall under the collective labor agreement.
What have we done?
Last year, the group of people outside the collective labor agreement – our group of executives – and I submitted the dissatisfaction about this to Shell HR a number of times. This did not lead to any concrete action on the part of the employer.
In short, talking alone didn't get us there. De Unie has therefore conducted a survey among its members together with the group of executives to find out what action they were prepared to take. The results of the survey were announced around the turn of the year. Our members stated that they wanted to send a signal to Shell through a playful campaign that those outside the collective labor agreement now really expect a substantial wage increase from Shell.
Just conducting the survey already had an effect. The group of executives was invited back by the top of Shell in early January 2023. And in February, Shell did indeed improve wages for non-CAO workers significantly more than in previous years.
After the pay hike of February 2023
We visit many companies and sectors. The wage step that Shell has applied for those outside the collective labor agreement is not bad. But certainly not great either.
This is also apparent from the responses we received to the second survey that was distributed. In this second survey, we asked members what they thought of Shell's pay rise. The red line from the reactions: the wage step is quite okay, but also on the low side. Especially considering the increased costs in the past 10-15 years. In addition, many wonder what the improvement in wages and other employment conditions will look like in the coming years. Many fear that this is a one-off step by Shell.
So the question now is: What next?
Ordered before De Unie it is important that we can represent the interests of enough paying members at Shell. Only if we organize ourselves broadly can we impress Shell to really discuss the terms of employment.
Employee meeting invitation
De Unie and the executive group invite you to an online meeting for paying members, light members and any other interested Shell employee, who are not covered by the collective labor agreement. So invite your colleague to join the online meeting! The meeting will take place on:
Thursday, August 24, 2023
Start: 13: 30 hour
Online via MS Teams
The members have received an invitation to the online meeting. If you are interested in attending the online meeting, send a message.
In this meeting you can indicate what wishes you have regarding your terms of employment and what you would like to see De Unie before you do. In the meeting it will be indicated what De Unie can mean for its members.
One outcome of the meeting may be that we will start to agree on a Collective Labor Agreement for Higher Personnel. “Higher Personnel” may not be a good name, because other groups of Shell employees are also not covered by the Shell collective labor agreement. But we'll come up with a suitable name for that. In the online meeting, representative Hans Korver explains what a CLA Higher Personnel entails and how the process works to arrive at such a CLA.
Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that we will succeed in making structural, guaranteed agreements with the employer about the employment conditions. After all, we are not yet at the table at Shell.
The more paying members we have, the greater the chance that we will be able to get a seat at Shell.
Questions or remarks?
Do you have any questions or comments regarding this message? Please contact the representative Hans Korver via hans.korver@unie.nl or call 06-5252 2073.
