Lloyd's Register threatens employees with 75% salary cut if they join industrial action

Industrial action at Lloyd's Register by members of Nautilus International is likely to escalate due to the intimidating way management is behaving towards its employees – including unprecedented threats to cut their pay by 75% if they participate in the action.

Employees of Lloyd's Register in the Netherlands began industrial action against their employer on 1 December 2025. The classification society's management is refusing to give employees a fair wage rise that compensates for inflation, despite paying themselves a 20% bonus after the company registered significant profits.

Nautilus executive officer Richard Moti said: 'The paltry wage increase that Lloyd’s Register has offered is lower than inflation, while profits are sky high. This is unfair to all employees who work, day and night, for Lloyd's Register.

"Employees are taking collective action that targets only the employer. They continue serving Lloyd's Register's customers but have stopped performing administrative tasks, preventing the company from sending invoices. Once an agreement is reached, they will resume this administrative work.

'Employees began with a very friendly campaign, in which customers are spared – but now, after receiving threatening messages from Lloyd's Register, their actions will only harden.

'Lloyd's Register’s response has been to threaten penalties for employees who stand up for their rights, which has gone down very badly.

'If they really go through with it, we will see them in court. This is unprecedented in the Netherlands.'

Nautilus is calling on the company to respond as soon as possible to its members' reasonable expectations and reach an agreement.  

The Union is asking for:

• a general pay rise for all employees of 4.5% to be granted retroactively from 1 January 2025 
• a fair and transparent pay scale and remuneration system
• an agreement that the primary and secondary terms and conditions of employment in the Employee Handbook will only be changed after consultation with Nautilus International