On Monday March 9th 2015, news site Nu.nl reports (in Dutch) that 900 employees (out of some 1500 total) of the Dutch General Intelligence & Security Service (AIVD) signed a petition calling for a collective labor agreement. Here is a translation of that report:

‘Secret service wants collective labor agreement’

Employees of intelligence service AIVD want a decent collective labor agreement with the Dutch government, unions report Monday.

Almost nine hundred employees signed a petition sent to Minister Stef Blok (State Service). According to the unions, that is a clear majority of AIVD personnel.

Government officials have been lacking a new collective labor agreement since four years. Since several months, the unions are petitioning to end this period without salary increases. Thousands of officials of various central government services already support the demand from the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CNV), Federation Dutch Labor Movement (FNV), AC Rijksvakbonden and CMHF.

That AIVD personnel now also make themselves heard is extraordinary, says Loek Schueler, director of CNV Government. “The employees organize themselves from the inside. The last weeks they have passed around a petition. Usually this would not attract much support, because of the personnel’s sense of duty and their task for the security of our country. That time is now over.”

The unions make inventory at the end of this month. They do not rule out strikes or work disruptions.

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