Last year April 1, 2020, the CLA contract catering expired. This coincided with the first lockdown as a result of the corona crisis. In the months leading up to this moment, trade unions and employers were working together to outline the framework for a new collective labor agreement. A collective labor agreement that was intended to provide an answer to the changing circumstances in which the sector was and is located; increasing competition from the catering industry, supermarkets (blurring), changing customer requirements and changing wishes and needs of employees (retention of current staff and attractiveness of new staff).
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Effects corona
The corona crisis has hit the contract catering industry badly. A major drop in demand (working from home, closure of companies, aviation and institutions) has led to a sharp decline in employment and many companies are struggling to survive. This also meant a lot for employees in the catering. Many employees were forced to leave the contract catering industry. Others were / are in great uncertainty about their future. That has caused a lot of grief and sorrow. Against this background, concluding a new collective labor agreement was not a priority and this process was therefore halted.
Short and medium term
We are now more than a year later. With the arrival of the vaccines, some light is cautiously shining into the tunnel. At the same time, there is a good chance that the times before the corona crisis will not return for the sector. For example, it is expected that partial home working will become the norm. For the short term, this unfortunately means constant uncertainty, but it is also difficult to predict what will happen in the somewhat longer term. All parties to the collective labor agreement are very aware of this. Especially what it does for the people.
Against this uncertain background screen, the CLA parties have started an exploration of the possibilities of arriving at a new CLA. A distinction is made between:
- The short term: what do we need to help the sector through the crisis.
- The medium and long term: what do we need to strengthen and secure the future of the sector and to offer employees perspective. After all, the circumstances before the crisis (competition, blurring, customer requirements, wishes and needs of employees) have not disappeared.
Exploratory conversations
The current times and the uncertain future make the current collective labor agreement process different from previous years. In the meantime, the parties to the collective labor agreement have held several exploratory discussions with the aim of arriving at new collective agreements. Employers have indicated that they want to make new agreements on a number of matters in a so-called CLA catering 2.0. This includes new structural agreements about functions, remuneration, working hours, training / development and mobility, among other things. Trade unions are willing to discuss this and want to involve everyone (employees, employers and clients) in this. In order to subsequently arrive at new agreements, based on our basic principle that the value of current collective labor agreements should at least remain the same with any new agreements.
Trade unions are willing to make the following short-term agreements with employers:
- Extend the current collective labor agreement unchanged until 1 April 2022.
- No agreement on pay rise.
- For new employees who come into service from 1 July 2021, an adjusted annual hours standard applies, whereby the calculation of plus and minus hours does not take place per quarter but per calendar year. This scheme for new employees is a trial that will run until 1 March 2022. The outcome of this trial will be evaluated and included in agreements for a new collective labor agreement for contract catering 2.0 that will take effect from 1 April 2022.
- Process agreements will be made with employers about the so-called CLA 2.0, which will take effect from April 1, 2022, during the term of the extended CLA for contract catering until April 1, 2022. The content of this will therefore follow and the employees will also be involved in this.
Continuation
CLA parties will continue to talk on Tuesday 11 May. As it looks now, we could come to formal collective labor agreements. If this is the case, we will of course present this to the members.
Contact
If you have any questions or comments regarding this newsletter, please contact the representative, Emanuel Geurts, via emanuel.geurts@unie.nl or by calling 06-5252 2074.
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