The FNV is to champion wage rises of 14.3% in the coming year’s pay round, the Netherlands’ biggest trade union federation said on Tuesday.

The figure matches October’s inflation rate and means workers will be neither worse or better off, the FNV said. The federation usually campaigns for an increase in spending power on top of a pay rise based on inflation.

‘Our members’ salaries must keep their value,’ said FNV deputy chairman Zakaria Boufangacha. ‘People are working harder and prices have gone up enormously. But profits have also risen over the past 18 months.’

Wage rises to date this year have been up on previous years, with deals signed in September averaging 4.4%, according to employer advisory group AWVN.  The biggest agreed so far is for railway workers, who will get 9.25% over 18 months, plus two bonuses of €1,000.

The FNV is involved in pay talks for between five and six million workers and is currently in negotiations for the country’s 200,000 healthcare workers.

The CNV trade union federation said in September it is targeting a pay rise of between 5% and 10% in the coming period and that figure has not changed since then, a spokesman told RTL Nieuws.