The Dutch Universities (VSNU) and the Labour Unions negotiate on the compensations and benefits of the University staff. The current Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) runs until 1 July 2016 and there is still no agreement on a new CAO, there even is a standoff.
The main bottlenecks in the negotiations lie with:
-Wage increases
-Work pressure
-Flexibility in life phases and work balance
-Unemployment benefits and the Transition allowance (Compensation when a contract is terminated or not extended)
-Reduction of temporary and flexible contracts
Before the Labour Unions go further with the negotiation process, they will hold input meetings across The Netherlands to explain the current standoff with the VSNU and ask for input from the University Staff.
It is important that Postdocs are well represented in these meetings to convey what is important or useful for this particular group to the Unions, so they can take that into account in their next negotiations.
The scheduled meetings for the coming few weeks can be found on the following website:
Universiteit Utrecht – 27 juni 11.00 tot 12.30 uur
Locatie: Androclusgebouw zaal C101, Yalelaan 1, Utrecht
VU Amsterdam- 28 juni van 12.00 tot 13.30 uur
Locatie: Kerkzaal, hoofdgebouw VU, De Boelelaan 1105
Leiden university – 28 juni om 15.15 uur
Locatie: Lipsius 228 (Cleveringaplaats 1, 2311 BD Leiden)
Radboud universiteit Nijmegen – 29 juni van 12.15 tot 13.30 uur
Locatie: Mercatorpad 1, CC3, 6525 HS Nijmegen
Open Universiteit – 5 juli van 10.00 tot 11.30 uur
Locatie: Pretoria zaal 3 en 4 Valkenburgerweg 177
Maastricht University – 5 juli 12.30 – 14.00 uur
Locatie: Randwijck, Universiteitssingel 40, kamer 5.772
Enschede (UT) – 30 juni van 12.30 tot 13.30 uur
Locatie: zaal 7 in de Spiegel
We hope to see you there!!