Workers strike again: garbage won’t be collected in Amsterdam for a week

Starting on Monday, February 20, the garbage won’t be collected in the Dutch capital for a whole week due to the labour union’s strike.

The Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) wanted to discuss a new collective agreement of wages again, so the unions surprised the nation and Amsterdammers in particular by announcing a week-long strike, according to RTL Nieuws.

Alongside Amsterdam, Den Bosch and Maastricht will also go without urban cleaning for the coming week. 🗑️

A 12% increase

It’s easy to take clean streets for granted, but in fact, 187,000 employees are working every day. 

This is probably one of the main reasons why the VNG didn’t want to increase salaries up to 12% over a year.

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“I understand that 5% is too little, but 12% is over-questioning,” said Ton Heerts, Dutch politician. “We’ll come up with a new offer in a few weeks.” 

The unions have no mercy

The CNV‘s (Christian National Union) trade union is not moved by the VNG’s budget difficulties. In fact, according to them, the question is how many more people will quit their job.

READ MORE | Salaries in the Netherlands: the ultimate guide to Dutch wages

“If you don’t offer good working conditions, you’re going to get this,” Juan Schot, collective bargaining at trade union CNV, told RTL Z.

What do you think of having another strike? Tell us in the comments!

Feature Image:Depositphotos
Mihály Droppa
Mihály Droppa
Mihály fell in love with (and in) Amsterdam, so he quit his NGO job in Budapest and moved to Amsterdam to become a journalist. His apartment is full of plants and books, two dogs, and a random mouse in the kitchen. You might find him in Vondelpark, where he spends most of his life throwing tennis balls for his vizslas and listening to podcasts. His nickname is Mex — ask him why!

1 COMMENT

  1. I understand workers rights etc….. but they are doubling their workload for starters…

    Also they didn’t come the correct day in my neighbourhood last week so they missed our pickup.
    Then this week is green bin and now they won’t come again next week…
    Our garbage is overflowing and we will have had garbage in here for over a month…. So honestly I’m a little angry by this whole situation

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