Employers do virtually nothing to compensate their employees for the high fuel prices. Only one in twenty employees receives a higher travel allowance for commuting as compensation, while the warnings that petrol prices are becoming even higher are becoming louder.
Economics reporter
A month and a half ago, the cabinet announced that the tax-free travel allowance would be increased by 2 cents to 25 cents per kilometer. ‘Converted, the higher travel allowance leads to a benefit of approximately 0.30 euros per liter of fuel. This can eliminate a substantial part of the price increase at the pump for essential commuting,” the government reported.
The measure applies retroactively to January 1 of this year. This had to provide a solution for acute financial needs at the pump and support the purchasing power of employees. Employers immediately objected, because they had to cough up the larger travel allowance. And then there was silence.
Only 5 percent receive higher compensation
A survey by the CNV trade union among 1,800 members shows that employers are hardly doing anything about the expansion. Only 5 percent of employees received a higher travel allowance after the government introduced a higher tax-free allowance.
“It is nice that there is a slight increase, but it also means that nothing has changed for 95 percent of employees. That is why CNV is still advocating a lower excise duty of 20 cents. Especially if fuel prices are predicted to rise even further. We find it unacceptable that prices continue to rise and workers are taxed so heavily,” says Jolanda van Zwieten of CNV.
Gasoline is becoming more expensive
The signals are red for the petrol price. The recommended retail price for a liter of gasoline is now 2.52 euros, about 25 cents more than before the attack on Iran.
Opposite the Financial Times Trafigura, the world’s second-largest independent oil trader, said on Thursday that the petrol market is at a ‘tipping point’. Prices have so far been tempered by the deployment of strategic stocks, but these are quickly being depleted worldwide.
Depending on the car
Van Zwieten: “Two-thirds of workers depend on the car to work. And often there is no alternative. If you live in Amsterdam, you can take the tram, but if you live in Drenthe, you have to go by car. People who have to be physically present at work in particular feel the high prices. Consider, for example, employees in home care, childcare and education. They suffer more from this than someone who can also work from home for a day.”
And the travel allowance for commuting is not a big deal. CNV research shows that 12 percent receive nothing at all. One in three receives less than 23 cents per kilometer. 80 percent of employees are now increasingly focusing on travel costs and 40 percent are finding it more difficult to make ends meet due to high fuel prices.
Trade union FNV, which advocated the increase, does not have concrete figures on increases in travel allowances, but expects them to be in line with the CNV research. “Employers may want to wait for the collective labor agreement negotiations and include them in it. In some of the collective labor agreements it has already been agreed that the fiscal maximum is leading,” says Guus Staats of FNV.
Sympathetic
The employers’ association AWVN takes the position that a higher allowance for commuting is part of these collective labor agreement discussions. “I expect that in a year’s time the 25 cents will have been agreed in many collective labor agreements. A higher compensation naturally means higher costs for an employer. The cabinet’s decision seemed sympathetic, but employers will get the bill,” says spokesperson Jannes van der Velde.
Moreover, according to employers, the extra costs that people incur when driving are not too bad. Van der Velde: “There was panic that the higher prices would affect purchasing power. But cars are not being driven less. No one knows what will happen if prices rise further.”
‘No free money’
He points out that many employers also took advantage of the higher exemption after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a result, an energy crisis arose, after which the exemption was first increased from 19 to 21 cents and then to 23 cents.
“But it is not free money. The suggestion now is that the employer should give it as a gift. That is not how it works in the world of employment conditions. Employers pay and want to discuss this in a total package of employment conditions. CNV and FNV are involved and if they consider it that important, they can put it high on the agenda.”
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