Holland Casino reaches new labour agreement

The company has agreed on a salary increases scheme from now until May 2022. Casinos in the country remain closed due to the lockdown.

Holland.- Holland Casino has reached a new collective labour agreement with trade unions FNV and De Unie regarding salary increases throughout this year and in to 2022.

It includes a 1.5 per cent salary hike as of October 2021 and a one-off payment of 0.75 per cent in March 2022.  

The agreement will be enforced through to 31 May 2022 when the parties will have to agree on a new scheme.

During the negotiations, Holland Casino and the unions also discussed pensions and further improvements in scheduling and sustainable employment.

Danielle Justus, director of human resources at Holland Casino, said that the company’s finances had been severely hit by the restrictions to operate during the pandemic and so the firm had also agreed with the unions on a voluntary severance scheme and a placement scheme.

She said: “Both schemes are important in the context of our necessary restructuring and will certainly contribute to fewer forced redundancies.”

FNV and De Unie will now recommend their members to accept the agreement.

Holland under lockdown

Casinos across the country remain closed after the Dutch government established a strict lockdown on 14 December 2020 with the operator not expecting to reopen any of its properties until 19 January at the earliest.

It’s the third time that venues have been forced to close due to the pandemic. It follows previous lockdowns from mid-March to 1 July and from 1 – 18 November.

Since September casinos have also been subject to curfews when allowed to open.

Holland Casino has been hit particularly hard since the state-owned operator has no online operations, with online gaming in Holland due to be regulated from next year.