Negotiators reach agreement on new collective labour agreement for Dutch universities
The employers’ organisation Universities of the Netherlands and the trade unions have reached a negotiated agreement on a new collective labour agreement. Salaries will increase by two percent on 1 July. After that, all amounts in the salary table will be increased by 100 euros. A one-off payment will be made in October at the latest.
After several rounds of negotiations, employers and employees in the university sector have reached agreement on a new collective labour agreement. The outcome is an average structural salary increase of 4.2 per cent as of 1 July 2025. The composition of this percentage is slightly different than usual: first, all salaries will be increased by 2 per cent as of the above date. Then, also on 1 July, all amounts in the salary table for Dutch universities will be increased by a structural amount of 100 euros. This brings the average structural salary increase in this collective labour agreement to 4.2%. In addition, there will be a one-off payment of 350 euros gross (on a full-time basis).
Employability Fund
The new collective agreement proactively takes into account the upcoming cuts in higher education: a so-called Employability Fund will be set up with the aim of supporting university employees in their professional development and career mobility in times of political austerity, radical legislative changes and related reorganisations. Equal pay for women and men for equal or equivalent work is and remains the starting point in the new collective agreement. In anticipation of the European directive on pay transparency, the parties to the collective agreement are actively working to provide insight into and monitor pay ratios and differences within our institutions.
Transparency, awareness and structural improvements are central to this. If there are differences, areas for improvement will be addressed by each institution.
The parties to the collective labour agreement will now submit the negotiation results to their respective constituencies. If they agree, the new collective labour agreement will become final at the end of this month and will remain in force until 1 July 2026.
Click here for the negotiation agreement (in Dutch).
