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UNI Global Union stands in solidarity with IKEA workers in the Netherlands as they struggle to assemble an agreement with the company for a fair pay rise and measures to address an increasing workload.
Dutch affiliate trade union, FNV, has been pushing for a 7 per cent wage increase to protect employees’ purchasing power. However, IKEA’s latest offer – a meagre 0.4 per cent increase from 1 January 2025, followed by a 2 per cent raise on 1 July 2025 – falls significantly short of what workers need, especially given the 3.3 per cent inflation rate reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) in January.
Last year FNV issued an ultimatum to IKEA, which expired just before the Christmas break without an agreement. Since then, the union has ramped up its actions, making headlines with high-profile demonstrations, including the appearance of FNV’s giant six-metre-high inflatable yellow duck – a striking visual symbol of the protest. In the past two weeks, workers escalated their actions with full-day strikes at IKEA stores in Haarlem, Utrecht, Groningen, and Delft.
