In Emmen, regional transport is on strike today. Dozens of bus drivers stop working and argue for a better collective labor agreement. They want a pay rise and better working conditions, because according to them the work pressure has been quite high in recent years, resulting in a high absenteeism due to illness.
It concerns a national relay strike, which kicked off this morning in Emmen, Oude Pekela and Stadskanaal. In Emmen, the drivers gathered at the station this morning. “The collective labor agreement has not been negotiated, a final offer has been made and the members of the FNV state: we cannot agree to this,” says FNV director Edwin Kuiper.
This is not the first time the drivers have gone on strike. They do not feel heard by their employer Qbuzz. “Many of the strikers are people over the age of 60. They often have to work extremely late. Sometimes they sit on the bus until half past three in the morning and they also have to start very early in the morning, around half past four,” says striker Henk. “They then have to get back on the bus after a much too short rest period.”
“And it’s about the people on the front line,” he continues. “In recent years, they have been hit by asylum seekers on line 73 to Ter Apel and they have taken healthcare personnel to work and people to the test streets, at the risk of their own health. Yet they do not receive a pay rise, because there is supposedly no money. and additional flexibility is also expected, but the flexibility is gone.”