# UWV staff in Zwolle to take action over pay offer on Thursday

> Staff at the benefits agency UWV in Zwolle will take action on Thursday after talks on a new collective labour agreement stalled, the union De Unie says.

Economy · published 2026-10-28 10:35 · https://nlnow.nl/a/uwv-staff-in-zwolle-take-action-over-pay-offer-on-thursday/

Staff at the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) in Zwolle will take action on Thursday over the employer's final offer in talks on a collective labour agreement (cao), the union De Unie says. The union says staff are currently very dissatisfied.

"The cao talks with UWV management are completely deadlocked," De Unie says. The union says the vast majority of its UWV members rejected the final offer. They consider the wage offer too meagre, at less than inflation, and say working conditions would get worse in a number of areas.

## Background

- **UWV (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen)**: The Employee Insurance Agency, which pays unemployment and disability benefits and helps people back into work.
- **cao (collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst)**: A collective labour agreement is a written agreement between employers, or their organisations, and trade unions that sets terms of employment such as pay, working hours, holiday entitlement and other conditions for a whole sector or company. In the Netherlands, a cao is negotiated per sector or per employer, and its terms apply to the employees it covers. When negotiations fail, unions can call staff to take industrial action to pressure the employer.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/