Lecturers protest against temporary contracts

Lecturers protest against temporary contracts

On 12 May, several dozen lecturers protested against the many temporary contracts at Dutch universities. They demonstrated in Utrecht to put pressure on the collective labour agreement (CAO) negotiations. For years trade unions and action groups have been resisting the ‘flex culture’ at universities increasingly fiercely. Many lecturers and postdocs have to string together temporary contract after temporary contract and they have had enough of it.

^{(Photo: DUB)}

On the Domplein in Utrecht, the demonstrators handed over a symbolic ‘temporary contract’ to the Free University of Amsterdam Executive, Marcel Nollen, who is also the collective agreement negotiator on behalf of the universities. The current CAO, which expired on 1 April, contains agreements on reducing temporary contracts, but these only apply to university lecturers (UDs), senior lecturers (UHDs) and professors. The other lecturers and researchers are not affected. (HOP)