‘Is this all?’ Bertus Aalbertse (67) enters the canteen of the cattle market in Bunnik on Wednesday morning. This is where the striking bus drivers gather, now that they are not welcome on the premises of their employer Keolis. And he does not like what retired trade unionist Aalbertse finds. Only five drivers hang over a cup of coffee between the incoming and outgoing cattle drivers. “Where’s the rest?” he grumbles indignantly. “Now they don’t show up, but they all piggyback on the profit.”
Ed Salome (62) does not want to hear about such comments. The bus driver is an FNV executive and therefore a predecessor in the battle of the Keolis drivers. There’s no whining about that. Instead, Salome focuses on the local radio reporter present. Drivers are ‘bothered by the boss’, he says. The trade union language rolls off his tongue smoothly, it’s time for ‘the worker to bite the bullet again’.
Salome and the FNV have been upset for months about the ‘cao-ov’, which applies to 13,000 employees in regional transport. This includes almost all drivers, as do a number of tram drivers and some train staff. At the beginning of this year, employers (such as Arriva, Keolis, EBS, Qbuzz and Transdev) and fellow trade union CNV reached an agreement on a wage increase of 2.8 percent. But FNV thought that was ‘substandard’. The union has been in action mode ever since: after several relay strikes and a nationwide strike, the union called for a new three-day nationwide strike this week.
Regional transport largely standing
On Wednesday, during the first day of the strike, it is difficult to assess the effect on public transport. The transport companies, united in the Association of Public Transport Employers (VWOV), agree that the timetable here and there is completely messed up. There are no trains in Limburg, no trams in the city of Utrecht. But for the rest, 70 to 80 percent of regional transport remains intact, according to the carriers.
The FNV calls those figures flattering and points, for example, to West Brabant, where Arriva only 10 percent of the timetable could drive. The unions estimate that a maximum of 35 percent of the regional transport functioned. Both claims are difficult to verify.
It is clear that not all regional transport has been shut down. Partly because non-union members (40 percent) don’t just join a strike; those drivers will not receive any compensation from the strike fund if they participate. The same applies to the 2,200 members of the CNV, which are not participating in the strike. Also FNV members (more than 6,000) do not all participate, sometimes because the compensation from the cashier is insufficient. Striking FNV members receive 70 euros per day, according to Keolis drivers 50 euros less than what they earn gross.
next collective agreement
The fact that the willingness to strike is disappointing may also have to do with the position chosen by the FNV. The union says it will take action against the current collective labor agreement, but it will expire in two and a half months. Union director Marijn van der Gaag hints that the new agreements can also be made in the next collective labor agreement. ‘I want 13 percent more pay and less work pressure. It doesn’t matter to me whether the current collective labor agreement will be broken up for this purpose, or whether the agreements will be laid down in the 2023 collective labor agreement.’
The Association of Public Transport Employers (VWOV) considers this a dubious negotiating tactic. ‘The union is now pretending to be campaigning about the old agreement, but that is not feasible. We cannot retroactively repair the workload and scheduling problems. These are agreements that belong in a new agreement. We have to negotiate, but the FNV refuses to come to the table.’
Trade union CNV also questions the strikes. ‘We don’t think it’s a logical route anymore. We should have started negotiations about the new collective labor agreement long ago.’ But the FNV is not ready for that yet. Van der Gaag: ‘If the employers come up with a proposal, we will probably suspend the actions. But it’s their turn.’
Thirty strikers
The efforts of Salome and his colleagues in Bunnik are bearing fruit on Wednesday. At the end of the day, the number of strikers has risen to thirty. As a result, only 42 percent of all lines that had to run from the municipality – including to Rotterdam, Wageningen, Veenendaal and Amsterdam – have been put on the road. ‘We hit the bull’s eye today,’ says Salome. ‘We’ll be there again on Thursday. And I can sense that there is enthusiasm to strike for longer than the three announced action days.’