Dutch unions call 24-hour public transport strike on September 9

Public transport workers across the Netherlands are to stage a one-day strike on Wednesday, September 9, bringing buses, trains, trams and metro services almost to a standstill.

The FNV union has called the strike in the latest escalation of its campaign against the government’s social welfare reforms, which it says will lead to lower living standards for millions of working people.

The three major unions FNV, CNV and VCP have vowed to fight the cabinet’s social welfare reforms, which are designed to secure €6.5 billion in cost savings during the goverment’s four-year term.

Social affairs minister Hans Vijlbrief scrapped a plan to increase the statutory retirement age faster by raising it in step with life expectancy, but the unions want the cabinet to go further by abandoning cuts to unemployment pay and long-term disability benefits.

Staff working for NS, ProRail, urban and regional transport sevices and DB cargo will down tools for 24 hours on September 9, making it impossible to run timetables.

Delays inevitable

“We are aware that a 24-hour strike will cause disruption,” said FNV official Edwim Kuiper. “We regret that deeply. But the consequences of the dismantling of our social security are much greater for everyone and will last much longer.”

National train operator NS said it could not say exactly what the impact of the stoppage would be because it had not been officially notified by the union.

Lobby organisation OV-NL, which represents nine smaller public transport companies such as Arriva, QBuzz and the major city network operators GVB, RET and HTM, said it “understood up to a point” the reason to call a strike.

But it said it was “very unfortunate that passengers are being disadvantaged by a social and political debate”.

Union leader Henri Janssen said that the strike was being called on behalf of commuters. “Every working person has to deal with sickness, work incapacity or involuntary unemployment. They should be able to count on a decent social safety net,“ he said.