Employees at FrieslandCampina dairy factories will once again stop work this week. There will be strikes at locations in Meppel and Leeuwarden today, tomorrow and Wednesday, FNV reports. The union has been taking action since May after stalled collective labor agreements with the Dutch Dairy Organization (NZO).
FNV expects that more than a hundred employees of FrieslandCampina in Meppel will stop work tonight. The strike starts at 10 p.m. and lasts 48 hours. On Tuesday, employees will take action at the company gate. In addition, more than two hundred people in Leeuwarden will stop work for two days tomorrow morning, according to FNV.
The NZO finds the actions “very disappointing”. According to the trade association, the strikes have not yet had any consequences for consumers and dairy farmers. The NZO still supports the offer of a 3 percent wage increase, the organization said. FNV wants wages to increase by at least 4 percent.
The union also advocates, among other things, a four-day working week, more allowances for working in shifts and permanent contracts for everyone who does structural work. According to NZO, the dairy collective labor agreement is already an “above-average collective labor agreement, which will further improve with the current final offer”.
A spokesperson for FrieslandCampina states that the actions cause “inconvenience and costs”. If a factory shuts down due to a strike, the milk must be taken to other locations or other partners, he explains. “We produce dairy and we process milk from members. You cannot release those cows.” The strikes also entail costs, such as trucks having to cover longer distances.
Strikes have taken place at various dairy companies in recent weeks.
