“Employees are getting a smaller and smaller share of the pie,” says union president Piet Fortuin. “The cabinet shouldn’t sit atop the treasury, but it should also consider the interests of the employees.”
The CNV wants employers to be able to give their staff €2,000 per person per year in tax-free shares. Now employees who receive shares must immediately settle with the taxman, because such a gift is seen as salary. This is a barrier for employers to award shares to employees in the lower pay scales, says collective bargaining agreement veteran Fortuin. “While they are the ones who desperately need this money.”
The business associations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland call the NVC plan an “interesting proposition, which we would like to discuss further”.