Members of four big trade unions affiliated to the FNV have agreed to merge after all, despite earlier divisions about the plans.

General workers union FNV Bondgenoten, civil service union Abvakabo FNV, building sector union FNV Bouw and FNV Sport have agreed to join forces to create a single, powerful grouping within the FNV alliance. Earlier this year, Bondgenoten members rejected the plan by a narrow majority.

The creative industry union Kiem will vote on December 20 whether or not to join the merged group.

The FNV is the Netherlands’ largest trade union federation and, once the merger has been completed, will have 13 or 14 affiliated unions and more than one million members.

CNV

Also on Wednesday, two CNV public sector unions – the civil service union CNV Publieke Zaak and the teaching union CNV Onderwijs – agreed to merge into a single unit.

The new public sector union will be named CNV Connectief and has 125,000 members. It will be chaired by Helen van den Berg, current head of the teaching union.

The CNV or Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond is the second biggest Dutch union federation with 335,000 members.