FNV wants to present a new chairman before the end of the year. That will not be one of the two candidates who had already arrived at the trade union: former chairman Tuur Elzinga and former vice-chairman Zakaria Boufangacha leave at FNV. On Monday, the Supervisory Board, with Lodewijk Asscher and Ton Heerts, announced that the trade union wants to move forward ‘with a clean slate’.
The regulators conclude that the administrative crisis that was publicly fought at the beginning of this year was “seriously failed, at the expense of the FNV”. Other board members-active and non-active-will also not be a candidate for the new board. Because of that measure, Asscher and Heerts want to prevent the FNV from losing its “legitimacy, effectiveness and credibility.”
Hard culture
The crisis focused around an incorrect, anonymous integrity report against Boufangacha and the way in which the board dealt with it. The Supervisory Board has confirmed that that report was’ wrong “. Chairman of the Supervisory Board Asscher speaks of ‘unsavory events’ and states that within the FNV’ not carefully [mee is] handled ”. The administrative and chairman elections were then postponed several times.
The supervisors come ‘as quickly as possible’ with next steps, in line with an assignment from the Enterprise Chamber, which is part of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. These steps concern the internal organizational structure of the union, and also finding new chairman candidates. In a “Retaled governance“The interests of members in different sectors should be better guaranteed compared to the way in which different parts of the trade union are currently working together.
Various studies then concluded that there is unsafe and hard culture within the union. It was also concluded that various parts, such as the membership parliament and the daily management, are not working well together within the FNV.
In the meantime, the union is led by an interim board led by Dick Koerselman, where a few mutations can be recorded. Petra Bolster was an interim vice-president but now returns and a number of experienced drivers will support the interim board in the coming period.
Comments
Both former chairman candidates respond with a written statement to their farewell as directors of FNV. Boufangacha writes that after the apologies from the Supervisory Board, a period of “to process in recent months”. After a difficult period in the coming period, he wants to focus on himself and his family and will continue to support the FNV as a ‘involved member’.
Elzinga says it is ‘a pity’ that he cannot apply for a new period as chairman and emphasizes the power of collectivity and association democracy. He also calls it “regrettable that some within the FNV have used their militancy for internal positions and power politics.”