Employees of the flooring company Forbo-Novilon in Coevorden will strike indefinitely from ten o’clock tonight. The trade union FNV and the company cannot agree on a new collective labor agreement.
The union had given the company an ultimatum until six o’clock tonight, but this has not been responded to. “We haven’t heard anything,” union official Janwillem Compaijen says. “That means that we will be campaigning from ten o’clock. The night shift will not work. Tomorrow there will be an action at the old office on the Holwert, after which we will go to the action center on De Loo. About 200 employees are members of the union, so I expect no work in the company tomorrow.”
Forbo-Novilon employees demand a salary increase of at least 14.3 percent. The company’s management does not want to go beyond 6.5 percent. In addition to the wage increase in a one-year collective labor agreement, the union also wants salaries to continue to rise in line with the prices in the shops. This will prevent problems from arising again in the future.
Forbo-Novilon in Coevorden employs 350 people. Also at sister company Forbo Flooring, with branches in Assendelft and Krommenie, work will be stopped tomorrow. This is a 24-hour strike.