Pay talks at cooperative bank Rabobank are set to be among the trickiest in years, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday.

The paper says the three big banking unions, FNV, CNV and De Unie have all described Rabobank’s initial pay offer as unacceptable. The bank wants to freeze pay levels but the unions are aiming for a 3.5% increase.
The pay deal will cover 40,000 staff. The current agreement expires on May 1.
‘Rabobank is one of the best performing banks,’ a spokesman for De Unie told the FD. Rabobank made record net profit of €2.8bn last year.
The unions point out staff at Fortis and ABN Amro won a 3.5% pay rise last year and the current agreement between unions and the government on pay restraint leaves the way open for a 3.5% rise. ‘That is what we are sticking too,’ Ralph Smeets of the FNV banking union is reported as saying.