Schlumberger staff take pay action after union ultimatum
Union FNV says employees of oil and gas services firm Schlumberger (SLB) will take action from 9:00 on Wednesday 21 October because the company's 3% pay offer does not protect their purchasing power.
Employees of oil and gas services company Schlumberger (SLB) are taking action from 9:00 on Wednesday 21 October. The union FNV says it set the company an ultimatum in talks on a new collective labour agreement (cao), and the company did not meet it.
FNV says SLB's management is offering a 3% pay rise on base salary only. Bonuses and allowances, which the union says make up 25 to 30% of total income for some employees, would not rise with it. In practice the increase is much smaller, FNV says, and for most employees it stays well below inflation.
The union wants a cao that protects purchasing power. Its demands include a 6% pay rise, automatic price compensation so that wages rise with inflation, and better arrangements for heavy work. The company had until 9:00 on 21 October to respond.
“The people at SLB deliver. The company is performing well and is on track with its targets. But as soon as employees ask for their purchasing power to be protected, SLB doesn't respond. That can't be explained,” said Anthony Williams, FNV's union official (bestuurder) for the process industry.
Williams argued that a company that passes inflation on to its customers cannot tell its own people to absorb the loss. “Then you protect the profit for the shareholders and put the bill on the employees. Our members don't accept that,” he said.
Labour disputes involving strikes in the Netherlands totalled 23 in 2025, according to CBS. That is down from 36 in 2024 and from 52 in 2023, the highest count of the past ten years. The lowest was 9 in 2020.
Strike disputes peaked at 52 in 2023, then fell to 23 in 2025
Disputes · 2016–2025
Strike disputes peaked at 52 in 2023, then fell to 23 in 2025 (disputes). From 25 in 2016 to 23 in 2025; highest 52 in 2023, lowest 9 in 2020. Source: CBS.
View data
| Period | Disputes |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 25 |
| 2017 | 32 |
| 2018 | 28 |
| 2019 | 26 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 22 |
| 2022 | 33 |
| 2023 | 52 |
| 2024 | 36 |
| 2025 | 23 |
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Follow the story: cao
FNV (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging)
The largest trade union federation in the Netherlands. It negotiates collective labour agreements (cao's) and takes part in national talks with employers and the cabinet.
cao (collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst)
A cao is a collective labour agreement: a written deal between an employer or employers' organisation and one or more trade unions that sets pay, working hours, holiday entitlement and other conditions of employment for a group of workers. In the Netherlands, cao talks are held per sector or per company, and each agreement runs for a set period before it is renegotiated, so unions take action mainly when they are pressing for a new one. Where the government has declared a cao generally binding, its terms can apply to all employers and employees in that sector.
CBS (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek)
Statistics Netherlands, the independent government body that produces the official statistics on the Dutch economy and society.