The country’s 180,000 local authority civil servants will get a 2% pay rise over the next two years, with a one off-bonus in August, unions and employers have finally agreed.

The previous local authority pay deal expired in June 2011. The agreement includes new measures to modernise working practices in the light of spending cuts and reorganisations, a spokesman for the local authorities’ association VNG told website nu.nl.
Ministers and some economists favour a pay freeze for civil servants as part of efforts to reduce the budget deficit.