Just 10,000 people went on strike in the Netherlands last year

There were just 25 strikes in the Netherlands last year involving a total of 10,000 workers, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

There have been an average of 21 strikes a year in the Netherlands since the turn of the century. In 2014 there were more strikes, but far fewer workers than the average 33,000 were involved.

In total, 41,000 working days were lost to strike action. Twelve strikes lasted for more than five days and they accounted for the bulk of the lost days.

More than half the lost days were due to the 10-week campaign by workers in the commercial cleaning sector, who reached a three-year pay deal in June. Nine of the 25 strikes focused on pay and eleven concerned job losses and reorganisations, the CBS said.