The FNV trade union is to make a 2.5% pay rise a key element in 2013 pay talks, the country’s biggest union federation said on Thursday.

The union is also planning to make a reduction in the number of flexible and short-term contracts a central part of upcoming pay and conditions negotiations.
Both main employers’ groups, the VNO-NCW and MKB Nederland, have already condemned the pay demand, which is just above the rate of inflation.
‘The FNV has obviously not yet realised we are in an economic crisis,’ the employer organisations said in a statement.
The FNV made a similar demand last year but research by the Hay Group earlier this month showed wages have risen by around 1% so far in 2012.
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