The union had pretty much disappeared – and now the young people are coming again in droves

Marly Nieuwenhuisen (29) is “very lucky”. She and her boyfriend both have incomes that allowed them to buy a house together. She herself works as a nursing IG (individual health care) in a care home for people who suffer from dementia at a young age, or have Huntington’s or Korsakoff’s. For eight years and with pleasure.

But the work is also hard. At night, Marly says, she is alone in caring for 36 residents. “There you go with your flashlight.” And this is the most normal thing in the world in nursing homes, she says. Is everyone sleeping then? “No, sometimes someone has to go to the toilet or wants to smoke a cigarette.” Sometimes a patient is restless or afraid.

She likes her work, but laughs a bit cynically: “My sister bakes sandwiches at Albert Heijn and earns one euro less per hour than I do.”

For the salary, her work is hardly worth it, Nieuwenhuisen believes. She earns 2,284 euros gross per month, with a 24-hour working week. It can ‘grow’ to 2,395 euros per month and for a full working week (38 hours) to 3,792 euros – once average. She earns more at night and on weekends than during the week, but Nieuwenhuisen does not always want to work then, she says.

And yet Marly did not join the union to fight for herself, she says, but for her colleagues. Because she has people who earn much less. The ‘helpers’ and the ‘living room assistants’. “They are indispensable. They determine the atmosphere in the living room, clean, replenish, help with food.”

Who wants to be a member of a union anymore? And once every few years, go to a field with older colleagues, so the caricature goes, where everyone sings songs and wears the same caps and scarves?

More and more young employees, according to recent CBS figures. The number of union members has been declining for years, to 1.4 million last year. In recent years, new growth has also failed to materialize and the number of members under the age of 45 has decreased – until 2024. Since then, the number of ‘young’ members at FNV and CNV, the two largest unions, has suddenly grown sharply. All unions together now have more than 422,000 members under the age of 45. That is 47,000 more than in 2023.

Caregiver Marly Nieuwenhuisen does not complain. But the shortage of staff in care and nursing homes is so great, she says, that nine out of ten times she works at too low a staffing level. Too many changing forces too. “I am now also a flex worker myself, that’s not to say. But I try to work my hours in three permanent departments, so that I am never an unknown face to the residents.”

Belonging

There are regular fights in her departments. “When I put a patient to bed, I leave the door ajar. Then I can hear what is happening in the living room. Sometimes they fight there. And then I have to leave a patient half-naked in his room so that I can intervene in the living room.” She does receive aggression training three times a year, where she learns, among other things, to ‘guide’ someone to the ground. And she has an alarm button to call colleagues.

Lucas van Wesel (19) has no complaints about his part-time job in home care – he cleans five hours a week for elderly people who can no longer do it themselves. He also studies political science and is a football coach in Nijmegen. He joined a union in August because he thinks society is becoming too individualistic. He wants to belong somewhere. “Young people want to join something, something bigger than themselves. With people from all kinds of groups. To make a difference.”

46 percent of elderly care staff have difficulty making ends meet

Saskia Boumans, director of De Burcht, the scientific office of the trade union movement, can imagine that young people want to belong – more than in previous decades. “A lot has become more uncertain, at least the housing market.” Even if you earn well, buying a house is unaffordable for most people in their twenties and many in their thirties, especially if they do not (yet) have a partner. Social housing is scarce and renting in the private sector is expensive – from 1,200 to 5,000 euros per month.

In addition, there is a major shortage of personnel in many sectors, which means that the work has to be done by fewer people, who have to work harder.

For a long time, the labor market was also uncertain for young workers. It offered many short contracts and fewer rights than before. According to Boumans, “the turn back” was made when the cabinet, employers and employees reached an agreement about this in the Social-Economic Council two years ago. In short, they wanted “a society in which working people have more security of existence.”

collective labor agreements

The main reason for not joining a trade union was unfamiliarity with it, says Boumans. “While the trade union movement concludes collective labor agreements with employers every two years on behalf of 7 million people. Without the unions, most employees would now have lower wages, harsher working conditions and less free time.”

Since 2015, trade unions have been doing a lot to gain awareness among young people, she says. Resulting in the recent young growth. Boumans: “They started working together more, for example with the student union LSVb to draw attention to the basic grant and the difficult housing market.” And the unions have taken more action in recent years than before, making them more visible.

Nina Cuijpers (23), community nurse in Eindhoven, has recently become a trade union member of the FNV. She lives with her parents because social housing is not available for her, and she earns too little to buy a house. She does not want to spend her “hard-earned money” on a rental property in the private sector. She has a higher professional education, works 32 hours a week and receives 2,400 euros net per month.

Not much, says Cuijpers, with such a high workload. And she also sees that her colleagues – assistants, carers and nurses with secondary vocational education – work hard and earn little. “Studies show that 46 percent of VVT staff [verpleeg- en verzorgingshuizen, thuiszorg] has trouble making ends meet. I think that is unfair.”

According to her, management and board in home care decide a lot, if not everything. While Nina likes to join in the conversation. But the level of organization in healthcare is low. So she became a member of the FNV.

Zoom in

Zero line

Esmee Renes (24) has been working at the Tax Authorities in Groningen for three years. She first followed a flight attendant training course, but was unable to find work after completing it – during the Covid pandemic. As an employee of the Tax Line, she now provides explanations about allowances, assessments and tax returns by telephone. She also became a member of the works council and the trade union. There she learns things such as how ChatGPT can help you and how to stand strong as a woman in the workplace. She can also get legal advice there.

As a government employee, she has excellent employment conditions, Renes believes; a public transport card for commuting, a tax-favorable bicycle plan. But she doesn’t like the zero line that the government wants for civil servants next year. Then her salary will actually decrease due to inflation.

During talk shows, Renes heard shouting that “all civil servants earn 90,000 euros a year.” If only it were true, she says. She barely earns an average income – about 39,000 euros gross per year. “With holiday pay, end-of-year bonus and everything else, I get 2,680 euros net per month for 36 hours a week.”

Renes and her boyfriend have solved a material problem that many young people experience – earning too little to buy a house. They just bought a house in Drenthe. In net terms, they spend less per month than the 1,150 rent they now pay. “We are really happy with that.”

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