This is the outcome of a consultation by e-mail of 2500 DLO staff that the WUR Council carried out in the summer. Only eight percent voted not to accept the agreement and seven percent had no opinion. A total of 44 percent of the employees voted.
Trade unions and Wageningen UR have been negotiating for more than two years on a new CAO for DLO employees. The outcome is striking as the unions have said DLO’s current offer is not enough. In addition to a salary increase of two percent and a DLOwide work-to-work scheme, the unions want ‘compensation’ for the statutory loss of the third year of unemployment benefit, for instance. It is not yet clear what the negotiators will do with the consultation result. The consultation has no formal status and the negotiating partners can just disregard the result. Back in November, the WUR Council called on the parties to reach an agreement quickly too. ‘Without a CAO it’s all up in the air.’