We will continue negotiations with the UWV on Wednesday, March 27, 2024. We have received many responses to the proposal. Are you curious about the reactions? Below we share the main points of the responses we received. We will of course take this with us to the negotiations on Wednesday, March 27.
The topics about which we have been contacted the most
Cost reimbursements
It is not without reason that we have put this item back on the agenda. It is clear that this is on the minds of many. Also in response to the current proposal from the UWV, it is indicated that the expense allowances, in particular the work-from-home allowance and the travel allowance, are not sufficient. A frequently heard statement is that you have to pay money to come to work.
Job evaluation
We receive a lot of responses about job description and job evaluation. Once again in response to the employer's proposal to switch to a new job classification system. The UWV writes that they have been talking to the unions for a long time about the transition to a new job structure. That's right. We also see that a job structure with a thousand different positions brings with it the necessary problems and we also see the need to reward development in a position. As trade unions, we have been indicating for three years that something must be done about the current problems. We have to work on that first before we can talk about the transition to a new job structure. We are currently trying to gather a group of members to further support us in this process.
Related to this are also the various comments we receive about salary scales that differ per department. Work that is harder in some places, but is not better rewarded. Employees who are already classified in the maximum number of job years upon arrival, while employees who have been employed for longer have had to grow towards that number for years. There is a demand for fair remuneration depending on the difficulty of the position.
Elderly arrangements
Different members have different needs. On the one hand, there is a great need for an RVU scheme, which allows employees to terminate their employment earlier in order to reach their retirement date in good health. On the other hand, there is a need to be able to continue working after retirement age. This topic shows that there is a need for freedom of choice for different situations. If we can introduce both schemes, the UWV can, on the one hand, give people the opportunity to retire earlier and, on the other hand, retain employees who can continue to work fit until after retirement. We have therefore added the subject of continuing to work after retirement to our proposals.
36-hour working week
The demand for a 36-hour working week is almost as widespread as the call that we should be careful not to increase the workload even further. As a trade union, we are very aware that in certain positions you only increase the workload, but that the work does not decrease if you have fewer hours per week under contract.
What now?
We have carefully reviewed the comments and will take them with us to the negotiations on Wednesday, March 27. The employer has indicated that they initially reject the topics that they have not proposed. That doesn't mean we accept that. We have not released any topics at this time. We will of course inform members after Wednesday about the progress of the negotiations that day.
Contact
Do you have questions about this message or do you have information that you are using De Unie want to share? Please contact our advocates Inge de Vries and Mandy Raaijmakers. This can be done by sending an email to inge.de.vries@unie.nl or to mandy.raijmakers@unie.nl.
