CNV Vakmensen and KNV Zorgtransport en Taxi have agreed on a new collective labor agreement. Nevertheless, the trade union FNV continues today’s planned strikes: they do not agree with the agreements. It is a national action of students, care and taxi transport. Twelve companies are participating, three of which are in Drenthe: Connexxion, Dorenbos and Willemsen-de Koning.
On behalf of the employers, chairman Bertho Eckhardt is pleased with the agreement. He therefore hopes that FNV will refrain from the strikes and join the agreement. “We would be surprised if the strikes were continued now that there is a valid collective labor agreement,” he says. According to the new collective labor agreement, there will be an eight percent wage increase with effect from 1 January.
“Very unfortunate”, Elis Tillema of FNV region North calls the situation. “We will continue the strike, as far as I know now.” Although Tillema calls the wage increase ‘good news’, the collective labor agreement as it currently stands is not good enough for the FNV. “The bad news is that people are getting a collective bargaining agreement that they were willing to strike for,” she says.
There is a one-time strike for 24 hours. “That has a reason, of course,” says Tillema. “Care transport drives people from vulnerable groups, the elderly and children who have to go to special education. We don’t just strike and we don’t immediately announce a strike until we get our way, it doesn’t work that way,” she says.
The fact that there is still a strike emphasizes the seriousness of the situation, Tillema explains: “These people are very loyal to their passengers, they feel strongly connected to that. I often hear that they really feel bad for their passengers, but they feel that they really have to stand up for a fair income.”
A stumbling block, for example, is the regulation regarding waiting days. Previously, in the case of illness, the first day was not paid and the following days only for seventy percent. In the new collective labor agreement, the waiting day has ended and eighty percent are paid out the following days. But, says Tillema, that’s not quite right. “Now the proposal is: the first waiting day expires, unless someone reports sick again within four weeks. In addition, a second waiting day is added if someone reports sick for the fourth time in a year.”
In addition, the break arrangement was a tricky point. Breaks were withheld, even if they were not enjoyed. This is no longer allowed under the new collective agreement. But the FNV is not satisfied with that either, because there is no way to check whether this is actually going well. “The Social Fund for Mobility (SFM) carries out checks on compliance with the collective labor agreement. They need a program to check whether employers comply with agreements about breaks, but employers do not want to invest in it. So they are not checked. ” According to Tillema, this has not yet changed in the new collective labor agreement.
Waiting time is also not always paid. Tillema paints a picture: a driver who takes someone to the hospital and has to wait an hour to pick that person up again, does not always get paid for the time the taxi is stationary. “But you are not there for your own pleasure. We believe: time worked is time paid.”
The new collective agreement has been submitted to and approved by the members of both KNV Zorgtransport and Taxi and CNV Vakmensen. But: “We have slightly more members than CNV and they will not be so happy with this”, says Tillema.