The FNV had enough to fight this week: Asian truck drivers who are exploited by their employer and car traders who demand a better collective agreement. Exactly what you can expect from a trade union. But lately the FNV mainly made the news with its persistent internal problems. As a new interim chairman, Henk de Jong is the one who will have to smooth out the fight between board and staff.
What is the matter again at the trade union?
Earlier this year, the FNV board exploded. That started with an internal report of an integrity violation at the address of then vice -president Zakaria Boufangacha. This happened in the run -up to the chairman election, which has since been postponed.
Boufangacha resolutely denied the “false allegations”. He also accused the then -sitting chairman Tuur Elzinga that he had not done enough to help “this slander” out of the world. Subsequently, a schism arose on the board and dissatisfaction with the FNV staff.
At the end of February, FNV employees gave all drivers a toilet roll to clean up the “shit within our union,” a trade union leader said de Volkskrant. The interim board has been appointed this week and the face of it is therefore Henk de Jong. With that he is not only the person who has to create order, but possibly also the new head of Jut in this battle.
Judith Westhoek, director of FNV Personeel, thought it was “very unfortunate” to say it that they had “had no participation in selecting the interim board.” This was a “hard requirement” of the staff after the previous board had left.
Who is this man who has to bring the FNV to calmer waters?
Henk de Jong is a seasoned driver who gets his most visible role to date with this position, but plunging debris is not strange to him. In 2014 he was flown in to save ROC Leiden from the financial abyss after a megalomaniac real estate project. In 2023 he became a supervisor at youth care organization Vigo, where it was also rumbling.
He was also a municipal secretary in Amsterdam, a member of the corps leadership of the National Police and director at PBLQ consultancy. In recent years he has been mainly active as a supervisor at, among others, the Bnnvara broadcaster.
Good. And what about this “shit”?
Before the FNV can fully concentrate on its reason for existence – supporting the employee – a lot still has to be done. According to De Jong, priority is now “to talk to staff and members” so that he “can get started quickly to ensure that peace and safety return within the FNV”. De Jong wants to “ensure that new elections can be organized as quickly as possible”, so that a complete trade union board can be elected again. On Friday it was announced that he will receive reinforcement from Miranda Diependaal as secretary and Carolien Bijen as treasurer in the interim board.
The reactions under the LinkedIn message in which De Jong announced his appointment, show trust: various FNV members are called ‘welcome’ and wish him ‘success with this challenge’. They also emphasize ‘how important’ it is that the trade union ends up in ‘good waters’, because that is certainly ‘much needed’ in these times.