Amsterdam, Utrecht streets cleaned up as bin men reach a deal

Monday 17 May 2010

City council officials in Amsterdam and Utrecht expect it will take several more days before the streets are once again free of rubbish, following the end of the bin men's strike this weekend.

The strike, in support of a 2.75% pay deal over two years, began at the end of April.

The deal - which covers all 200,000 local authority civil servants - was reached between unions and employers late on Saturday.

The agreement gives workers a 1.5% pay rise this year and a higher end of year bonus. Next year staff will get a further 0.5% and a further 0.5% rise in the annual bonus. Workers on the lowest pay scales will also get an extra pay-out.

Government cut backs

The employers had called for a pay freeze.

Amsterdam's acting mayor Lodewijk Asscher said he was pleased a deal had been reached. 'We have difficult years ahead of us and it is better to make agreements than have a stand-off,' he said in the Parool.

Asscher was referring to pending cuts in national funding for local authorities as part of efforts to get government spending back under control.

© DutchNews.nl

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