NXP workers called to strike over wages

Business news | March 11, 2024

By Peter Clarke

The Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV) or Federation of Dutch Trade Unions has called for a 24-hour strike by workers at NXP’s Nijmegen site in the Netherlands.

FNV Metaal has been negotiating with NXP for better pay on behalf of about 3,000 employees in the Netherlands.

The strike is set to take place Tuesday March 12 and has been called because collective negotiations on wages have stalled, the federation said. A deadline that the FNV gave to NXP management to meet its demands expired at 5:00pm central European Time on Friday March 8.

FNV Metaal is trying to ensure that employees should not see living standards eroded by inflation and has called for NXP to increase wages by 9 percent. NXP has offered an increase of 2.5 percent, the FNV said. The union has also demanded an additional 8 percent for employees who must work to pre-set criteria, also rejected by NXP, the Federation said.

“The fact that management does not want to share the cake with the people on the work floor is a painful observation and shows little sign of appreciation. Striking is an ultimate means of changing the minds of the top management of the company,” said Bernard van Iren, director of FNV Metaal, in a statement.

The FNV said that the 24-hour strike could be the first of a series of strikes.

NXP provided the following statement: “NXP provides competitive compensation wherever we operate, including The Netherlands. We are focused on fairly compensating our Dutch team members at or above industry standards, which includes considering the impact of inflation. In 2023 NXP raised the salaries of our Nijmegen team members 7 to 11 percent, provided an additional one-time payment of 1.5 to 2.5 percent as well as a bonus of at least 6 percent. FNV’s demands are completely out of step with the three other unions we work with. We hope that FNV will join the other three unions – VHP2, De Unie and CNV – at the negotiating table to come to the new terms and conditions establishing a fair collective labor agreement.”

In 2021 a number of senior managers at NXP each received millions of dollars through the sale of NXP shares often bought at a nominal value of $0 (see August was share deal time for NXP Semiconductor executives), according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The provision of share options, where executives are allowed to buy shares at below the market price, are a standard practice.