Garbage man Carlo Peulen (57) from Den Bosch will stop working from Wednesday. Together with a large number of his colleagues from the waste management service, he is going on strike for five days for a better collective labor agreement. “I have colleagues who can no longer make ends meet.”
“Stacks of garbage bags next to the underground containers,” expects Carlo, who has been a driver at the garbage collection service in Den Bosch for ten years. “At the bin at home, the bags will also pile up. And you get a lot of litter. People are going to put rubbish at the containers because their bin is full.”
“It’s going to be a mess.”
Much waste will not be collected from Wednesday in the municipalities of Den Bosch, Altena, Vught, Heusden, Bernheze and Oisterwijk. City cleaning staff are going on strike for five working days. Due to the strike, both household waste and industrial waste are not being collected. “It’s going to be a mess”, predicts Carlo.
“Everything is getting more expensive. I have colleagues, mainly temporary workers, who can no longer make ends meet,” says Carlo. “I can’t fry an egg myself,” he jokes. “But I also hear from my wife that everything is getting more expensive in the supermarket. Fuel, energy, rent, everything goes up. It really doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Stop with carnival, we can’t make that.”
Actually, according to Carlo, the plan was to go on strike on Carnival Monday. “But we can’t do that to the carnival celebrants. Then it really is about tons of waste. Carnival is really in my heart.” The streets in the center are swept clean of cups, for example, he says. “That’s a different team.”
According to the garbage man, there is a lot of understanding among companies and residents for the action. “I hear that when I collect the waste now,” he says from the garbage truck. “Everyone notices it in their wallet, so people can empathize with our situation.”
“Bullying is not the goal.”
Does it really stink? “We have the temperature with us: it will freeze. It would be different in the summer.” He emphasizes: “It is not the intention to bully people. If we wanted to, it would really become a mess.”
Better Collective Labor Agreement
The civil servants are pushing higher wages and compensation for next year’s inflation. Garbage collection services have been on strike for some time now. Each time it is the turn of other municipalities where the work is laid down.
The promotion lasts until Tuesday. Incidentally, an exception is made: if emergency services get into trouble because waste is in the way, the city cleaning service will clear it up. Small, chemical or hazardous waste is also still collected from companies.
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