Over a thousand DSM employees took part in a demonstration outside the chemical company’s factory gates at Geleen in the south of the country on Tuesday morning, reports news agency ANP.

The industrial action is in support of the unions’ demand for a 2% pay rise from January 1 this year. Workers are angry because they claim management is using the economic crisis as an excuse for turning down their pay demand.
The workers also want an unconditional guarantee that DSM will not cut jobs, says ANP. The company is prepared to make concessions but these do not go far enough for the unions and informal talks between the two sides on Monday did not resolve the dispute, reports ANP.
The unions are now threatening further industrial action including strikes. ‘The workers have given a clear signal and shown their determination,’ Henk van Rees of the FNV trade union confederation is quoted as saying following Tuesday’s demonstration.