If you were thinking of taking a bus or tram to explore the flat lands on Thursday or Friday, we have bad news for you!
The FNV trade union announced a strike in the Netherlands after failed wage negotiations, so when it comes to public transport, we will have to trust NS trains on those days. 🥲
This mainly concerns bus transport such as Arriva, Keolis, Qbuzz, and Transdev. However, urban transport will still go in the biggest cities, like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, according to NU.nl.
No agreement
After a collective bargaining consultation between the employees and the unions, the two sides did not reach an agreement, despite an “above-average wage offer” of 8%, according to VWOV (The Association of Public Transport Employers).
Previously, the unions had warned of a nationwide strike for these days in the regional transport. At the time they said that only if the collective bargaining agreement would fail. And well, here we are!
You guessed it: Inflation
More than 13,000 employees are working for regional transport, and many of them are members of the union.
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The union wants to reduce the workload, and adjust the salaries to the rising inflation rate.
NS staff and CNV members won’t join the strike
Groups have different collective labour agreements, therefore CNV members and NS staff won’t join the strike to help reach these goals, though they share similar sentiments.
One of the main reasons is that CNV members must organise a poll before taking action, and it is quite likely that they won’t have time for that.
What are your thoughts on the regional strike? Tell us in the comments!