PostNL and trade unions BVPP and CNV reached an agreement in principle for a new PostNL collective labour agreement (CLA) and a CLA for Saturday deliverers. These trade unions will positively present both agreements in principle to their members. A third union, FNV, will also submit the result of the CLA negotiations to its members. It has been agreed that wages will increase by 5.5% in two years. Furthermore, a non-recurring payment of 0.5% will be paid. The PostNL CLA also includes agreements on sustainable employment, hiring of more parcel deliverers and an allowance for home workers.
The agreements in principle include a structural salary increase of a total of 5.5% over two years, a performance-related bonus of 2% over 2020 and a non-recurring payment of 0.5% in December 2020. This is on top of the previously announced extra net payment of €250 in appreciation for working during the Covid-19 crisis. People in office-based roles will get a home working allowance of €45 net per month. In addition, the following was agreed upon:
- Extension and improvement of (what was previously known as) the Generation Pact. An agreement concerning older employees who can work less hours with partial retention of salary and pension accrual.
- An early retirement scheme (three years before pensionable age) for 300 employees with physically demanding jobs.
- Ability to save up leave for early retirement to be increased from 50 weeks to 100 weeks.
Good work with certainty
- Better facilitate the flow from the postal company to other, growing business units of PostNL, such as the Parcels and IT/digital departments.
- Expanding the number of parcel delivery workers on contracts to 2,000.
- Accelerating the conversion of 200 temporary contracts into permanent contracts at Parcels & Logistics.
Being a good employer
- PostNL aims to encourage employment contracts for parcel deliverers in the sector. Currently, 80% of parcel deliverers have an employment contract and are employed either directly by PostNL (PostNL CLA) or by a third party (BGV CLA). The CLA parties aim for this to become the standard throughout the parcel sector in order to prevent competition on terms of employment.
- Hiring 200 temporary workers for future-proof roles with permanent contracts within PostNL.
Good working environment
- Letter of intent for agreements in the parcel sector to reduce the number of heavy parcels (> 23 kg) in order to lighten the load of parcel deliverers and to prevent competition on working conditions by creating a level playing field.
The outcome of the consultations is expected on 8 December. The CLA for PostNL applies to approximately 18,000 PostNL employees. The CLA for Saturday deliverers applies to over 200 employees in total. Postal deliverers have a separate CLA.