Trade unions are not yet sure whether they should accept the new collective labor agreement offer of the Dutch Railways (NS). FNV, VVMC and CNV met on Wednesday morning to discuss the new proposals. Director Jerry Pique of the latter union says that the deliberations are taking longer than previously expected because there is no agreement yet.
The Dutch Railways (NS) presented a new collective labor agreement offer on Tuesday. Wages would increase by 5 percent retroactively from 1 July. At the turn of the year, an additional 2.5 percent would be added. The management also wants to “make agreements on how to deal with the uncertainty of inflation” and, among other things, lay down a minimum wage of 14 euros in the collective labor agreement.
Unions have been organizing regional relay strikes in recent weeks after an ultimatum expired. They severely disrupted train traffic. For example, a strike in the region around Utrecht last week stopped almost all NS train traffic in the Netherlands.
Actions
Actions are also planned for next Friday. Then staff will stop working in the northwest and west regions, which include Amsterdam and Schiphol. FNV announced on Tuesday that the new offer from the NS is not yet sufficient to avert those strikes.
Unions demand, among other things, automatic compensation in wages for inflation. In addition, they say that a good collective labor agreement is necessary to attract new staff, which should help against the high work pressure among NS employees.