Cleaners demonstrated at Eindhoven Central Station last Thursday morning for better working conditions. They believe their salaries are too low and they should be able to receive paid sick leave.
The cleaners have placed a cleaning robot at the station to make the point that they should be treated as people and not as robots.
According to Ron Meyer of the FNV union, this demonstration is a continuation of a big strike that took place two years ago. After sixteen weeks of striking, a compromise was made agreeing that further research would be done as to whether they would receive paid sick leave. According to Meyer, the research revealed that paid sick leave would not encourage employees to take sick leave less often. Also, according to him, many full-time cleaning employees still live in poverty.
Eindhoven is not the only station where a demonstration will take place. There will also be demonstrations in Groningen, Rotterdam and Utrecht. After the demonstration the cleaners went to Amsterdam to gather with other cleaners from around the country.
