Rubbish collectors in Amsterdam and Utrecht are planning to go on strike in support of their 1.5% pay claim over the next few days.

In Amsterdam, the Abvakabo civil service trade union said on Monday that bin men will go on strike on April 30, Queen’s Day, one day earlier than planned.
They will clean up the tonnes of rubbish traditionally left on the streets by party goers on May 1 and go on strike again for a week from May 6. That will hit the launch of the Giro d’Italia cycle race in the capital on May 8.
Risks
Last week, the city council went to court in an effort to get the strike banned, but judges said they could not act until the unions made definite plans. Acting mayor Lodewijk Asscher said the plan to strike on May 1 posed ‘unacceptable risks’.
In Utrecht, the city’s cleaning service is going on strike from May 1, meaning the Queen’s Day rubbish will not be collected.
A city-wide strike by street cleaners is also planned for The Hague around April 30. The city council announced on Monday it is to go to court in an effort to get the strike ruled illegal. The city traditionally attracts some 200,000 people to evening revels on April 29.
‘We are not just talking about all the rubbish that gets left behind, but about the risk of people falling onto broken glass on April 30,’ a council spokesman told reporters.

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