Just like in August, the strike will take the form of a relay race. On the first day of the strike, Friday 9 September, NS personnel in the west and northwest of the country will stop working. The East, South and North regions will follow on Tuesday 13 September, and the Central Region will follow on Thursday 15 September.
The first announced strike day, Friday, coincides with a strike by workers in regional transport. They will stop work in Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel on Friday, also for a better collective labor agreement.
It is the second time in a short period of time that NS staff has gone on strike. At the end of August, this happened spread over four days. On Tuesday 30 August, when the personnel in the central Netherlands went on strike, there were hardly any trains in the entire country. The NS had decided to do so, because the strike had major consequences for the timetable in the rest of the country.
Shadow play around negotiations
State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) found that train failure a ‘bad business card for public transport’. They called on the NS and trade unions again last Tuesday resolve their conflict quickly. But there is as yet no question of a quick way out of the impasse. Both the NS management and the railway unions believe that it is the other person’s turn. The unions want the management to make a better collective labor agreement proposal; the management says they would like the unions to reconvene.
Trade unions have not noticed this wish, says Wim Eilert, director of the trade union VVMC. ‘I read it in the paper. We have not heard anything further, by mail or letter. Then you know it’s not serious. We wanted to save the Grand Prix party, but today the unions got together again and Friday we start again. As long as nothing moves at NS, the situation will not change.’ A spokesperson for the NS does not want to say anything other than ‘that the door is open’.
Union calls earlier strike ‘a resounding success’
The FNV calls the earlier strikes in a statement ‘a resounding success in terms of willingness to take action and effect on the timetable and all other activities at NS’. Yet that does not seem to have been enough to get the NS to come up with a good collective labor agreement proposal. According to the carrier, some of the unions’ demands are practically impracticable.
The unions demand that employees’ salaries keep pace with inflation, so that their purchasing power remains the same and it becomes more attractive to work for the NS. In addition, they want the workload to go down and employees to be more appreciated. The union threatens national strikes if no agreement is reached after the new strike round.