“A collective labor agreement contains the most important agreements between employers and employees and is often the result of lengthy negotiations. Advising on collective agreements is a specialism”

In a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) the collective terms and conditions of employment of employees are regulated within a certain industry or company. A collective bargaining agreement is concluded between one or more employers or employers’ organizations and one or more trade unions.

Special statutory rules apply to collective bargaining agreements. For example, when making agreements with individual employees, it is in principle not allowed to deviate from the employment conditions laid down in the collective bargaining agreement to the detriment of the employee. However, the employer must be bound by the relevant collective bargaining agreement. This is the case, for example, if the collective agreement has been declared universally binding and the employer falls within the scope of the collective agreement.

Alwin Stege is the specialist in the field of collective bargaining agreements. He obtained his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the field of collective bargaining law and has broad practical experience.

When it comes to collective bargaining agreements, we help with the following:

  • negotiating and drafting collective agreements
  • advise in the event of a deadlock in collective bargaining (collective action/strike)
  • investigating whether a certain collective labor agreement is applicable (scope investigation)
  • investigate whether an employer is obliged to join an industry pension fund (BPF)
  • answering questions about the interpretation of collective labor agreement provisions
  • enforcing compliance with collective labor agreement provisions, possibly through legal proceedings before the court or a competent arbitrator
  • answering questions about the extension and termination of collective agreements
  • advise on the general binding declaration (avv) of collective agreements. For example, about the applicability of an AVV decision, requesting dispensation from an AVV decision, and the legal consequences of declaring collective agreement provisions generally binding