Local authorities are prepared to put up civil service pay this year despite cabinet calls for a pay freeze, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

Rotterdam city council executive Jantine Kriens, who chairs the employers’ side in the ongoing negotiations, says there is room for more cash if the unions agree to extend the current pay deal until January 2013.
The pay rise would consist of a one-off pay-out of 1% of basic salary plus a 1% rise. Some 180,000 civil servants work in local government.
At a national level, talks on a pay rise are at stalemate following the government’s determination to impose a pay freeze.