Local Consultative Body

These include leave, working hours, social security, reimbursement of expenses, regulations for work-related costs and employee benefits budget.

The Executive Board is obliged to inform the trade unions at LO meetings about any proposed reorganisation. In the case of so-called radical consequences and consequences that impact the legal status of the staff, agreement must be reached at the LO meetings about whether a redundancy plan is to be drawn up to supplement the social measures set out in the CAO.

In recent years, the topics below have been discussed at meetings of the LO and the following regulations have been established. 
The results of the LO are communicated to all employees by the HR, Health, Safety & Environment department as VU Amsterdam policy and regulations, via the VU-zine and on VU.nl. The regulations can be found on the information pages on VU.nl: 

• individual choices model / regulations (pdf)
• special leave / regulation (pdf)
• business travel / regulation (pdf)
• allocation of decentralised employee benefits budget (pdf)
• dispute settlement for staff / scheme (pdf)
• VU knowledge exploitation regulations (royalties) / regulations (pdf)
• information about illness and recovery

Dutch universities work together in the UNL (Universities of the Netherlands). As an employers’ association, UNL’s tasks include consultation with employees’ organisations about the employment conditions of university employees. These national agreements are laid down in the CAO of Dutch Universities. On the UNL website you can find all the information about the CAO and the full text of the CAO. 

Within the VU there is over a million euros available annually for the so-called decentralized employment conditions funds. The spending of this is agreed every five years with the unions in the VU Local Consultation and has now been discussed again. Members of the unions within the VU could vote on this agreement by email until Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. 

At the FNV, 18 members voted in favor and 1 member voted against. At the AOB, 11 members voted in favor and 0 against. At the CNV, 9 members voted in favor and 0 against. At FBZ, no members voted. The agreement thus became final. 

Among other things, Sports & Culture facilities for employees are paid from the benefits money. Unfortunately, the funds have not been indexed for inflation. Also, the amount has never been adjusted for the growth of the workforce in recent years.

In the current agreement, more than seven tons were spent on Parental Leave so that units could easily deploy replacements. This spending item expires because parental leave is now well established in law and collective bargaining now.

For the coming years the union has reached an agreement in principle with the employer VU in which the spending for Sport and Culture remains the same but will be accompanied by an own contribution of € 25 per year for sports and € 7.50 per cultural performance. The text of the agreement can be found here.

In addition, funds will be released to:

1) provide all employees with a 50% allowance of the premium for a group supplementary insurance policy to cover income loss in case of partial disability.

2) increase the kilometer allowance for commuting from €0.12 to €0.13 per kilometer for people traveling by public transport.

Such insurance has been purchased by many employees from Loyalis, but even more do not have such a verezkering. If you want to know more about the type of coverage check the Loyalis site.

Also included is a listing of possible net costs per month.

Whether we as VU also end up with Loyalis is still uncertain because it may have to be tendered. The agreement assumes equivalent insurance.

If you have questions, ask them by email to lokaaloverleg@vu.nl

AOB, CNV, FBZ and FNV

November 2024

The Vrije Universiteit (VU) and the trade unions have agreed on a social plan. This plan aims to support and guide employees during the challenging, financially difficult times facing the VU. The social plan was agreed upon to absorb the current cut of 60 million over the next three years.

This plan was met with approval by members of the four unions. At each union, a majority of voting members voted in favor.

The social plan offers a wide range of tools and measures focusing mainly on “work-to-work” counseling. It is intended for both academic and support staff and measures have also been agreed upon that are of interest to international employees of the VU and to employees in different stages of their careers. By focusing on counseling, training and redeployment, the plan offers the greatest possible chance of a smooth transition to a new job. The Social Plan 2025 can be found under the link.

The plan identifies all the legal status aspects that need to be addressed in order to absorb the cutbacks and is in line with the relevant legislation and the agreements already laid down in the CAO NU. Questions were raised at the presentation of the plan to members and interested parties on February 6, 2025. The questions and answers can be found under the link.

In what way does the social plan regulate extras compared to legislation and CAO?

The law and the CAO already include various measures to provide employees with a financial safety net, such as the transition compensation and the Extraordinary Benefits based on the BWNU. For the sake of readability, these entitlements are mentioned in the social plan.

The additional concerns include:

- Wider application of RVU scheme for people nearing retirement who choose to do so themselves

- Placement scheme to promote voluntary departure

- Mobility center in charge of social plan implementation

- Joint Social Plan Advisory Committee where disputes can be submitted about all decisions arising from the social plan

- Retention of salary scale in the event of redeployment to another suitable position

- Budget for outplacement (€ 5,000 including VAT)

- Compensation for legal costs (€ 750 including VAT)

- Signing bonus (½ month's salary)

- Voluntary departure scheme (with entitlement to the Mobility Bonus)

The latest news on the reorganisations at the VU can be found  at:

https://vu.nl/en/employee/vu-wide-adjustment/adjustment-2025-2028

The independent news site Ad Valvas also regularly publishes news items about the proposed reorganisations in its Campus and Culture section

https://advalvas.vu.nl/en/campus-culture/

The current CLA ends on July 1, 2025. On March 6, 2025, the formal consultations between the four unions and the Dutch Universities started in order to reach a new CLA.

Below are links to information from the unions with the stakes and the latest state of affairs.

AOB https://www.aob.nl/en/recent/articles/Purchasing-power-retention-and-reduced-workload-key-points-for-new-collective-labor-agreement-for-universities/

FNV https://www.fnv.nl/nieuwsbericht/sectornieuws/fnv-overheid/2025/03/onderhandelingen-cao-nederlandse-universiteiten only in Dutch

FBZ https://www.fbz.nl/nieuws/2025/positieve-start-onderhandelingen-nieuwe-cao-nederlandse-universiteiten/ only in Dutch

• Budget cuts and reorganisations
• local consequences of the CAO
• tenure track policy at VU Amsterdam
• workload: continuation of participation in working group, realistic range of tasks
• recognition & reward (Erkennen & Waarderen)
• need for and size of flexible non-core workforce (monitor agreements about permanent employment contracts)

Become a member of the Union and stand stronger!

In the newest collective labor agreement of Dutch universities we have made a good agreement: september is the month of the union! Will you become a member of the union in september or october? Then your employer pays the first 100 euro of your contribution. We as unions stand stronger if we have more members. It helps us to arrange good working agreements. 

Read more in the newsletter https://vu.nl/en/news/2024/welcome-allowance-for-new-trade-union-members

• There are approximately six regular LO meetings every year.
  Schedule 2025: 3rd of february, april 7th, juni 2nd, 22rd of september and 3rd of november, (reserve: 1st of december)
• If required, meetings can take place more frequently, for instance in a period when the national CAO negotiations are under way or have been completed, or in the case of a reorganisation with forced layoffs.
• Fixed / periodic agenda items:
  - Allocation of the employee benefits budget (twice a year)
  - Current state of affairs at VU Amsterdam (once a year)
• The meetings are not public. Discussions are confidential and the minutes are not shared with the employees. Summaries of the meetings are shared at this webpage.

Trade unions in the Local Consultative Body

The following trade unions are active at VU Amsterdam:

- AC/FBZ       Centre of Public Sector Employees/Federation of Professional Bodies in healthcare and related scientific research and educational programmes
- AOb             General Union of Education
- CNV             Christian National Trade Union Federation
- FNV             Federation of Dutch Trade Unions                

For AOb, CNV and FNV, both VU Amsterdam staff – on behalf of the trade union of which they are a member – and trade union leaders of the trade unions take part in the LO.
AC/FBZ is looking for a member/VU Amsterdam employee to take part in the LO. Interested? Get in touch with Maaike Langerak.

LO members of trade unions

• Maaike Langerak     AC/FBZ / trade union leader
• vacancy                   AC/FBZ / VU Amsterdam employee
• Donald Pechler         AOb / trade union leader
• Pieter Wagenaar      AOb / VU Amsterdam employee
• Hans Roseboom      CNV / trade union leader
• Dick de Gilder          CNV / VU Amsterdam employee
• Sam Verduijn           FNV / trade union leader
• Sjaak Lammerts       FNV / VU Amsterdam employee

Employer

The Executive Board is represented in the LO by the director of the HRM, Occupational Health, Safety & Environment department, Renée-Andrée Koornstra.

Employment lawyers of VU Amsterdam attend the meetings too. They check the agreements reached there against the CAO and the statutory regulations.

Works Council

A member of the Works Council is present as an observer at the LO meetings.

Official support for the trade unions

Marisa Nathalie Evers

Not only do the trade unions in the LO represent their members, they also dedicate themselves to the interests of all VU Amsterdam employees. What can you yourself do to support this important work?

• Become a trade union member
  Via the optional model for terms and conditions of employment you can get back part of the trade union contribution as an untaxed allowance by means of a tax exchange. 
• Tell your trade union representative what subjects require attention
• Take an active part as a trade union member
  Would you like to do more and campaign actively for good employment conditions at VU Amsterdam via a trade union? Find out from your trade union what you can do.

AC/FBZ is looking for a member/VU Amsterdam employee to join the LO. Interested? Get in touch with Maaike Langerak at bureau@fbz.nl.

The Local Consultative Body is not part of the employee participation but there are of course interfaces with the work of the Works Council. Consequently, a Works Council member is present at LO meetings as an observer, and an LO trade union member attends the Joint Assembly meetings (GV) at which the Works Council and the University Student Council (USR) hold joint discussions with the Executive Board.

Here you find the summaries of what has been discussed at the LO-meetings. The minutes are confidential.

2024

3 february 2025 summary

2 december 2024 summary

4 november 2024 summary

23 september 2024 summary 

3 June 2024 summary

8 April 2024 summary

29 January 2024 summary