In this message, representative’s Emanuel Geurts provides information about the regular consultation between De Unie, the other trade unions and the NVB’s employers’ delegation (WVB) held on Monday 2 March 2026.
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Equal pay
The implementation of the European Pay Transparency Directive has been postponed in the Netherlands to 1 January 2027. The cabinet has sent the draft bill to the Council of State for advice. The WVB members have received the draft text of the law. Once the law is finally in effect, further information on its application will follow.
Ratio fixed/flex
The current Banking Sector Collective Agreement 2025–2026 includes a clause stipulating that employers must endeavour to ensure that, on average, 90% of their workforce are directly employed by them. Based on the input received, the average ratio of permanent to flexible staff is 88.10% as at 1 July 2025. This means that employers are almost fully compliant with the collective agreement.
Civic leave
The parties have agreed to provide an overview of the percentage of staff making use of this new form of leave and to investigate whether there are any WVB members who have their own arrangements. The average score is 2.6% and, of the 17 respondents, there is one WVB member who has their own scheme with better terms. Take-up of the scheme could perhaps be higher, as not all employees are willing to document their contribution to society. A second survey is planned for 2026, but the parties to the collective agreement have yet to agree on an exact date for this.
Understanding of salary system and leave hours
This collective labour agreement provision concerned gaining insight into the use of a private salary system and surplus holiday hours. Eleven WVB members follow the salary system of the Cao Banken, and six members use their own salary system. For this latter category, a number of WVB members use the methodology of the Cao Banken but with higher salaries or with a different basic working week (40, 38, or 37.5 hours). In response to the question about the number of surplus holiday hours, 12 WVB members indicated no deviation from 72 hours. Three members convert the number of surplus hours to a basic working week of 40, 38, or 37.5 hours. One WVB member grants 87.5 surplus holiday hours, and another uses 72.5 surplus holiday hours. One respondent links an additional 24 hours of surplus holiday to signing authority.
Artificial intelligence
Following the periodic consultation, there was also an AI session with the employers' delegation, works council chairmen from several banks, and the trade unions. Speakers Peter Oeij from TNO and Cas Bogaard from CribConnects gave a Presentation on AI Given. This also follows from a collective labour agreement (CLA) agreement to further investigate AI and make it known to the members of banks and trade unions.
Contact
Please feel free to contact our representative, Emanuel Geurts, regarding this message or any other matters you wish to discuss. You can reach him via emanuel.geurts@unie.nl or via 06-52522074. If you have an individual question or require advice, please contact our Service Centre. They are available during office hours via sc@unie.nl en 0345-851963. We're happy to advise you!
