Tomorrow, Wednesday October 14, will see the first in a series of strikes carried out by regional transport workers across the Netherlands. According to trade unions FNV and CNV, strikes will take place once per week until Christmas.
This means that if you rely on Arriva, EBS, QBbuzz, and Keolis buses or trains, your commute is likely about to become much more complicated.
The FNV and CNV explain that they won’t announce each new strike until shortly beforehand, so that employers will be unable to draw up emergency schedules on time.
“We will not allow the actions to be sabotaged by employers who start drawing up emergency schedules at the last minute,” says CNV negotiator Niels Rook.
13,000 employees taking part
According to the CNV, the strike applies to almost all employees in urban and regional transport, with the exception of urban transport in Rotterdam, The Hague, and Amsterdam.
No less than 13,000 employees will take part, with the majority of these being bus drivers.
The CNV writes that the strike comes after a deadlock between negotiators and employers. According to them, “they want to reduce sick pay, include more unpaid breaks in the schedules, and be able to implement schedule changes at even shorter notice. Moreover, they want less employee input on the schedules. We are drawing a clear line now.”
The CNV is fighting for a wage increase of 9.5% over a two year period, a solid scheme for elderly workers, faster permanent contracts, and fully paid parental leave during the first nine weeks, among other things.
And if tomorrow’s strike doesn’t work?
If the chaos caused by the first strike tomorrow doesn’t get negotiations moving, more will come. Specifically there will be one strike per week until Christmas.
And this could very well be the case. The Association of Public Transport Employers (VWOV) writes that it doesn’t have the capacity to meet the union’s demands, saying “The financial pressure on public transport is high.”
Buckle up folks, we may be in for a bumpy ride.
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