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.

See also below, under the heading Current Topics, Social Plan 2025-2027, and the financial adjustments.

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, 90.36 kB)
• special leave / regulation (pdf, 158.66 kB)
• business travel / regulation (pdf, 97.98 kB)
• allocation of decentralised employee benefits budget (pdf, 96.18 kB)
• dispute settlement for staff / scheme (pdf, 70.64 kB)
• VU knowledge exploitation regulations (royalties) / regulations (pdf, 152.35 kB)
• 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. 

See also below, under the heading Current Topics, Negotiation results for the 2025 collective labor agreement Wage increase and international solidarity

Read the current state of affairs surrounding the campaigning against the budget cuts on the website of the AOb, the education union.

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. You can find the information in the text of the agreement (pdf, 56.21 kB).

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 (pdf, 61.51 kB).

HRM will personally inform employees at their home address by letter at the end of May 2025. Further communication will take place in the coming period via the VU-zine and various news items on VU.nl. Employees will also receive a reminder email in July and September. 

Employees who already have collective disability insurance with Loyalis will also be informed personally by the insurer after June 1.

Both the information on VU.nl and the Loyalis website will be updated to reflect the new situation as of June 1, 2025, at the beginning of June. If desired, a premium calculation can also be made at that time.

You can find more information in the announcement (pdf, 46.58 kB).

The trade unions on the one hand and the employers' organization Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) on the other have reached a negotiation result for the new collective labor agreement. With a wage increase in cents instead of percentages, the lower wage scales will benefit relatively more. 

Improvement in purchasing power

The collective labor agreement will run for 12 months. As of July 1, salaries will be increased by 2.0% and €100. This brings the average structural wage increase in this collective labor agreement to 4.2% and for employees in the lowest scale to 5.6%. In addition, everyone will receive a one-off payment of €350 gross (pro rata).

Calculation example

Scale 1.0 (€2,742) 5.6%

Scale 7.0 (€2,899) 5.4%

Scale 10.3 (€3,897) 4.6%

Scale 11.0 (€4,539) 4.2%

Scale 18.9 (€12,230) 2.8%

Reduction of workload

The standard working hours will be made transparent and agreed upon in the decentralized employee participation bodies of the universities. If necessary, the matter can be escalated to the University Council or Central Works Council. The role of the Local Consultation on the theme of workload will also be given greater prominence in the collective labor agreement. 

In addition, we have an agreement on the teaching duties of PhD students. From now on, these may not exceed 20% of the employment contract on average over a period of four years.

Social safety

In previous collective labor agreements, we mainly focused on a good complaint and reporting structure at the universities. In this collective labor agreement, we zoom in on the causes. To this end, we will look at the structure and culture at the institutions. Together with the employers, we will conduct an analysis in which the terms hierarchy, dependency relationships, and the role and qualities of managers play an important role.

We will improve the working climate at each university. In doing so, we will focus on selection procedures and training for managers.

Other topics

In addition, agreements have been made on:

• An employability fund

A one-off sum of €45 million will be made available to set up a fund to promote employability.

• Equal pay for women and men

We want to work with employers to investigate pay ratios and differences within our institutions.

• Reorganizations

In special circumstances and if financial resources are available, the dismissal protection period for specific target groups may be delayed by up to two months, for example in those cases where the residence permit expires on dismissal. 

• RVU scheme

The agreement in Article 6.12a of the collective labor agreement on customized sustainable employability RVU agreement will be extended by a period of three years until December 31, 2028.

• International solidarity

A solidarity contribution of €2 per employee will be introduced for education unions in countries where union work is not a given. This contribution will be paid by the universities to the unions in a one-off payment in 2025.

Read all agreements (in Dutch only)

• Budget cuts and reorganisations
• local consequences of the CAO
• 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)

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. You can find more information in the Social Plan 2025 (pdf, 278.43 kB).

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. Here can read the questions and answers (pdf, 127.02 kB).

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/financial-adjustments-and-budget-cuts

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/

Employees who join the trade union during Trade Union Month, i.e. in September or October, will have the first €100 of their membership fee reimbursed by their employer.

You can apply for this welcome bonus via Declaring expenses for internal employees. In the self-service portal, select ‘gift (voucher) for staff’ as the category. Enter the correct amount of €100 and upload the document proving that you became a member in September or October. Without this attachment, your application will not be processed. Please note: claims can only be submitted before December 13, 2025.

In subsequent years, as a union member, you can make use of the Choice Model for Employment Conditions. This model allows you to exchange the membership fee paid each calendar year for tax benefits, thereby enjoying a tax advantage. The choice made from the choice model and/or the claim for the welcome allowance will be reviewed (retrospectively). The trade union provides its members with an annual document showing how much membership fees have been paid. This model, together with the document for 2025, must also be submitted before December 13, 2025.

Would you like to know more about what the trade union can do for you? Then take a look at this site and click on the Four-Trade-Unions-Trade-Unions-2025-flyer (pdf, 984.92 kB).

• 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.

Meetings of the VU Amsterdam Local Consultative Body - Summaries

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

2026

2nd of february 2026 summary (pdf, 72.78 kB)

2025

1st of december 2025 summary (pdf, 61.92 kB)

3rd of november 2025 summary (pdf, 145.86 kB)

September 22nd 2025 summary (pdf, 24.27 kB)

June 2nd 2025 summary (pdf, 74.55 kB)

23 april 2025 summary (pdf, 77.88 kB)

3st of february 2025 summary (pdf, 46.52 kB)

2024

2 december 2024 summary (pdf, 43.19 kB)

4 november 2024 summary (pdf, 37.76 kB)

23 september 2024 summary  (pdf, 36.06 kB)

3 June 2024 summary (pdf, 56.35 kB)

8 April 2024 summary (pdf, 47.82 kB)

29 January 2024 summary (pdf, 119.2 kB)

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 (may 2025)

• 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
• Razi Quadir              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 / ACTA-VU Amsterdam employee
• Vacancy                   FNV / VU-medewerker

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? Would you like to get involved in individual advocacy?
  Ask your union about the possibilities.
  You can be exempted from your regular work for much of your union work. You can also take courses at the union, for which you can also be exempted.

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.