From tomorrow, bus drivers in regional transport will be on strike for 24 hours in the regions of Alkmaar, West Friesland and Noordkop. They do this because they disagree with the new collective labor agreement proposals from their employers, says Veronika Teunnissen of FNV regional transport.
So-called ‘relay strikes’ have been held since May. This means that short-term strikes are being held alternately in different parts of the country.
This is because employers suddenly stopped the collective labor agreement negotiations in February and unexpectedly made a final offer. According to the FNV trade union, this offer was ‘much too meager’. Not only did the wages not rise enough, according to the union, employers are also expecting more flexibility from their drivers.
“The drivers are on strike for more pay, a reduction in workload and a better arrangement for older drivers to work less, for example,” says Teunissen. “Employers are focusing on even more flexibility, which is due to the large shortage of drivers.”
According to her, ‘taking leave is virtually impossible at the moment’ and absenteeism among the staff is very high. “It’s a vicious circle,” she says. “If too much is asked of the staff, the dropout will increase.” As a result, it is also not attractive for potential new drivers to do this work, says Teunissen.
Continuation
The relay strikes last until mid-July, after which there is a summer recess. Previous actions have yielded nothing to the drivers, Teunnissen says: “There is no movement in the negotiation process and I do not expect much to change in the summer time.”
If her expectation is correct, it would mean that the actions will become larger after the summer: “Drivers are modest and do not want to dupe the public. That is why no large-scale promotions have been held so far. But if nothing changes, I expect national strike days.”
Local buses do run according to their normal timetable. “We only consist of volunteers and are not covered by a specific collective labor agreement,” Cor Bakker of Buurtbusvereniging Bergen told NH Nieuws.
You can find out what the strike means for your journey on the website from Connexxion.