Trade unions FNV, CNV and VVMC announce a new wave of strikes. In the south of the Netherlands, NS employees will stop working next Tuesday.
Last week, the train staff went on strike for the first time, resulting in an empty Eindhoven Central. Similar scenes are also expected next week.
Regions north, east and south will go on strike on Tuesday, while work will be halted in the west on Friday, September 9. Next Thursday it will be the turn of the middle of the Netherlands. Moreover, the first strike wave shows that train traffic in Eindhoven is also feeling the consequences of striking personnel in the center or west of the country.
Demands
Trade union CNV caftsman says that the subject of the strike is a wage increase of 4.5 percent per year, plus a December benefit of 8.3 percent. The NS must also do something about the high workload and permanent jobs must be created for temporary workers.
“Many NS employees are getting tired and are now often unable to provide the quality and service they would like,” says negotiator Jerry Piqué of CNV. “They don’t get the chance to do their job well this way. NS will really have to come up with a good collective labor agreement, which is more appreciated. Otherwise, the action train will unfortunately just keep on racing.”
Willingness to take action
“The willingness to take action among NS staff is extremely high,” says Piqué. “We will now continue until the NS crosses the bridge.”
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Shanthi Ramani
