Employees of cheese company Bouter Cheese in Culemborg will go on strike from Wednesday evening, FNV reports.
According to the union, the employees do not accept the final offer of the collective cheese employers. Bouter Cheese supplies various cheeses to Albert Heijn, among other things.
Negotiations in the sector on a collective labor agreement recently broke down because the parties were unable to reach an agreement on the wage increase. The joint cheese employers offered a wage increase of 7 percent, but the unions think that is not enough. FNV demands more than 14 percent.
High inflation
“It is precisely the employees with the salaries that are paid at the cheese warehouses who have no room to absorb the high inflation within that salary,” says Ron Vos, director at FNV.
According to him, the hourly wage is an average of 15.19 euros at the level of the lowest scale steps and an average of 16.65 at the level of the highest scale steps. “A wage increase that compensates for inflation is the minimum that you should agree on,” says Vos.
The company employs 380 people.