Last week, the Netherlands experienced commuting chaos as NS workers laid down their whistles in protest of poor pay. Now, trade unions have just announced a second wave of strikes.
Much like the last strikes, different regions of the country will experience a shutdown of train services on different days.
This time, the strikes will be spread across three days, the first of which will begin as early as this Friday, September 9.
What regions will be affected by the NS strikes and when?
According to the NOS, the strikes will look like this:
- Friday September 9 — Northwest and West regions
- Tuesday September 13 — The East, South and North regions
- Thursday September 15 — Central region
However, if the last strikes are anything to go by, other parts of the country may also experience train cancellations.
Why are the NS striking again?
For much the same reason as the first round of strikes. Last month, the trade unions FNV, CNV, and VVMC announced that NS workers would strike, demanding better pay from the NS.
READ MORE | Don’t even try: travel organisation says stay home during NS strikes
Asking for a one-time bonus of €600 and a monthly wage increase of €100, the unions made it clear that if the worker’s demands weren’t met by the NS, more strikes would follow.
And guess what? The NS has not met these demands. “Although the strikes of 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31 August were a resounding success, there’s still no new collective labour agreement,” the unions have said in a statement.
The result: ditch your commuting plans for next week — and pray that the NS workers get their pay.
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The most I efficient company I have ever dealt with! We had tickets on 8th July from Amsterdam to Maastricht. The journey is 2-1/2 hours on one train. The reality was 5 hours on 4 trains. I submitted a claim fror refund on 11th July. I was advised that it would take 6 weeks to pricess. I am still waiting and requests for an update are ignored!! A similar claim here in the U.K. with Southwestern Railways was paid in 5 days