From 1 January 2026, the new collective agreement for temporary workers goes into effect. After intensive negotiations between the ABU, NBBU and trade union LBV, an agreement has been reached that will change a lot for temporary workers, seconded workers and clients alike.

The core of the change: equal employment conditions for temporary workers and seconded workers compared to permanent employees. In this article, you can read what is changing, why certain arrangements are disappearing and what this means concretely for you.

Towards equivalent employment conditions

Until now, the temporary employment sector worked with a separate package of employment conditions: 25 days' holiday, 8.33% holiday allowance, fixed arrangements around sickness and training. That system offered clarity, but did not always match what permanent employees received. Sometimes it worked out better, often less well.

With the new collective labour agreement, this separate temping package disappears. From now on, the client's terms of employment will apply. This brings permanent and temporary employees closer together. In concrete terms, this means:

• You get the same holidays, allowances and arrangements as permanent colleagues.

• Does the client have more or better regulations than the old collective agreement? Then you too will benefit.

• Are the conditions slightly more austere? Then a transitional arrangement ensures that you do not immediately lose out.

What is changing in this temporary employment collective agreement

A number of fixed regulations from the current collective agreement are disappearing, such as the standard 25 days' holiday and 8.33% holiday allowance, the training reserve and exceptions for specific groups such as holiday workers.

On paper, this seems a step backwards, but in practice it is a step forward: no more generic rules that were sometimes restrictive, but a remuneration system that matches the client's conditions one-to-one. This makes remuneration fairer and more transparent.

In addition, the phase systematics is changing. Phase systemisation is a flex system within the temporary employment industry that gradually offers temporary workers more rights and security the longer they work.

• Phases 1 and 2 will be merged into one phase of 52 worked weeks.

• Phase 3 will be shortened from three to two years.

This will make the path to a permanent contract shorter and clearer.

Transitional arrangement

For a small group of employees, the change may lead to a temporary setback. A transitional arrangement has been agreed for this:

• Entitlement to 25 holidays and 8.33% holiday allowance will be retained for another six months.

• Those who are sick before 1 January 2026 and still are on that date will keep the old entitlements.

Coherence with new legislation

The new collective agreement is in line with the More Secure Flexible Workers Act, which is expected to come into force in 2026. Once this law comes into force, the interval will also change: it will go from six months to five years. Until then, the current six-month period will remain in force.

The aim is clear: structural work should no longer be filled with temporary contracts. Temporary workers and seconded workers will have more security, more perspectives for permanent employment and working conditions that are in line with their permanent colleagues.

Duration and impact CLA for Temporary Workers

The CLA applies from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028.

• For clients, this means that they have to share terms and conditions of employment fully, correctly and in time so that temporary workers and secondment agents can apply them correctly.

• For temporary workers and seconded workers, it means more transparency, fairer pay and, in many cases, better conditions equal to permanent colleagues.

What is Trinamics doing?

We know that such changes raise many questions. That's why we won't leave you alone. In the coming period, we will ensure that everyone, clients and employees alike, will be taken through the transition to the new collective labour agreement step by step.

Our promise: clarity, transparency and smooth implementation. So you know exactly where you stand and can count on terms of employment that match your commitment and talent.