Employees of the social work company Emco in Emmen and Coevorden will temporarily stop working on Wednesday. The aim is a wage increase of more than ten percent and a higher travel allowance (from 10 to 21 cents per kilometre). The FNV expects that about 400 employees of the total of 1500 will join the action.
According to trade union FNV, employees with a disability can hardly make ends meet due to the increased cost of living.
The FNV, meanwhile, is pointing an accusing finger at the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). The municipalities are the direct employers of Emco employees. “For months we have been told by the VNG that there is no extra money for the employees in the social work companies,” said FNV director Elanda de Boer. “The money must first come from the minister before the VNG can do anything. But municipal officials have been compensated with better collective agreements.”
So it is possible, says De Boer. “While employees at social work companies already earn around the minimum and can barely afford the daily groceries.”
The union wants all wages in these collective agreements to be increased by 10.15% with retroactive effect from 1 January 2023. The travel allowance must also be adjusted to the higher fuel costs. Nationally, about 90,000 employees are covered by the applicable collective labor agreements, according to the FNV.
The union is currently making a round of social work companies throughout the Netherlands to collect signatures. The scribbles will then be placed under an invitation to Minister Carola Schouten of Social Affairs and the employers to visit the national action day on June 7 in Utrecht.
The work stoppage is part of a larger action series that previously visited Flevoland and Overijssel. On Monday, employees in Dronten, Zwolle and Kampen already stopped working.