Last Friday, July 4, 2025, the judge again prohibited an action process by the fellow unions (an 8-hour work stoppage). Again, ‘safety’ was put forward as the most important argument. As a result, the announced action of next Wednesday, July 9, will not take place. Yesterday, a formal collective labor agreement consultation was scheduled on the Land-specific topics. Unfortunately, the fellow unions were not present. In response to this new situation, De Unie has therefore decided to suspend the collective labor agreement consultation for Land for the time being. In this update, we’ll explain why.

We have never made a secret of the fact that we prefer to reach a new collective labor agreement together with all five ground unions. Especially because we are largely on the same page in terms of content. We all want a collective labor agreement that does justice to the commitment and loyalty of employees, and that fits the difficult situation in which KLM finds itself. The differences of opinion with KLM are much greater than the differences between the unions.

In the past period, we have always tried to reach agreement through dialogue. This is also not possible on the basis of KLM’s latest proposal (you can read this proposal here ). Whether it concerns the wage margin, the new appendix 15 (social plan, including employment guarantee ‘Back on Track’), or the flexibility measures desired by KLM.

In recent days, our (executive) members have also been very critical of KLM’s latest proposals. The one-off payment and a structural collective labor agreement increase that depends on KLM’s operating result can count on little enthusiasm.

What now?

We are disappointed that it is not possible to reach a new collective labor agreement within a reasonable period of time. Of course, the situation is complex, but it should not be so difficult for KLM to make ‘the right choices’ and conclude a collective labor agreement that does justice to the ever-increasing workload of ground employees. KLM seems to play chess on several boards at the same time, both between the domains and within the ground domain itself.

We have therefore informed KLM that we are suspending the collective labor agreement consultations on the Land-specific topics for the time being. We are prepared to resume consultations as soon as the informal consultations with the fellow unions have been completed and all five ground unions are formally back at the table.

Next Thursday, July 10, the second substantive multi-consultation will take place with all unions about wages and duration. De Unie will be present to emphasize that we are pleased that KLM has left the zero line, but also that the current proposal can count on little understanding and support from our (executive) members.

So much for this update.
Do you have any questions or comments? Let us know via huug.brinkers@unie.nl

We will keep you informed!

Sincerely,
Huug Brinkers

Advocate