Last Wednesday, May 7, 2025, we spoke again with KLM about the collective labor agreement. This was now the 21st meeting. We have paid a lot of attention to the renewal of Annex 15 of the collective labor agreement. This is important, because employees who are faced with redundancy (also in the context of Back on Track) must quickly gain certainty about their situation. Although we have made a serious attempt to reach a deal, this has not (yet) succeeded.
Annex 15
De Unie and the fellow unions have taken as their starting point that the value of the current Annex 15 should not be up for discussion and that forced redundancies are not acceptable in the context of Back on Track. We have already informed you extensively about this. After many rounds of consultation, we have made a kind of ultimate proposal to KLM, whereby the mediation activities from the current Annex 15 will be maintained and the severance payment (also in the event of voluntary departure) will be set at one month’s salary per year of service. KLM has reacted negatively to this. They want to shorten the mediation periods and offer a lower compensation – a compensation that in principle is only paid in the event of a forced redundancy.
CLA
Duration and wages have still not been negotiated. However, there has been renewed talk of more flexibility. KLM wants to adjust the fixed/flex ratio, shorten the notice period for R-services, be able to schedule more KV as individual hours and introduce 10-hour shifts at E&M. For us, these remain difficult subjects, about which we can only make agreements if there is voluntary and appropriate compensation.
What next?
For some time now, we have been very concerned about the lack of progress and results of the consultations. The old collective labor agreement has expired (and has been terminated by KLM) and there have already been 21 (!) rounds of consultations. In our opinion, this is a new record and there is still no prospect of a deal. In the other domains, it is not much better.
We have planned two more rounds of consultations next week. In that consultation, KLM will make us an integral proposal. Then we take stock.
De Unie in the (new) Works Council
Recently, there have been elections for the new works council (OR) and group committees. As you know, a number of Union members have also stood for election. The good news is that we have managed to secure a seat (and a substitute) in the Works Council (MSG constituency) and that a large number of Union candidates have also been elected to the group committees. We are very pleased with this and wish all our representative bodies every success in this challenging time for KLM. Of course we also want to thank everyone who voted for one of our candidates!
Sincerely,
also on behalf of the delegation members,
Huug Brinkers
Advocate
