Train passengers can expect strikes again, the unions warn

Once again, train passengers must take strikes on the track into account. Just like last year, the consultation on a new collective labor agreement for the Dutch Railways is in danger of failing.

Strikes are not yet certain, it became clear on Wednesday morning during a manifestation of trade unions VVMC and FNV Spoor at the foot of the NS head office in Utrecht. But if the railway company does not come up with a better collective labor agreement offer on Thursday and Friday, “then we are really on the road to action,” said director Wim Eilert of the VVMC, the largest union for drivers and conductors.

In August and September 2022, the unions of NS employees held regional strikes that seriously disrupted train traffic throughout the Netherlands. NS then concluded a collective labor agreement that included a pay increase of an average of 9.25 percent in eighteen months. It was the first collective labor agreement in a series of employment agreements in various sectors with a significant wage increase.

“We are giving a final warning,” FNV Rail director Henri Janssen shouted to two hundred NS employees in Utrecht on Wednesday. “If NS does not come across the bridge, the entire cogwheel will come to a standstill again, just like last year.”

Janssen knows his classics. The FNV director refers to the railway strikes of 1903. These became the most famous strikes in Dutch history, partly due to Albert Hahn’s cartoon in the socialist newspaper The people. “The whole cogwheel will stand still, if your mighty arm wills it.” The government of Prime Minister Abraham Kuyper was so shocked by the strikes that it quickly introduced legislation banning strikes for railway workers and civil servants. This ban would last until 1980.

Price compensation

“Striking pays off, the conductors, drivers and other NS employees saw that last year,” said Eilert of the VVMC. “Our members are ready to stop work immediately.” The union leader calls the current wage offer “simply bad.” “NS offers 2.45 percent for one year. Ridiculous. We see all around us that collective labor agreements are being agreed with much higher percentages.”

The unions are asking for 6 to 8 percent more wages. They also want NS to take more measures against aggression and violence by passengers against train staff. NS has also often raised this topic, but concrete agreements are still lacking. In addition, temporary workers must be given permanent employment sooner. And just like in other sectors, the railway unions demand automatic price compensation (APC).

With the (temporary) refusal to significantly increase wages, NS supports VNO-NCW, MKB Nederland and AWVN. These employers’ associations warned at the beginning of December that strong wage increases are “not sustainable” economically. The three called the average collective wage growth of 7.1 percent in 2023 “historically high”.

That growth is independent of the economic situation in many companies and sectors, according to the employers. “CLA parties must again link wage growth to the business economic situation and the prospects in the sector,” the three said.

If NS were to do that, the railway unions would probably be able to write down their wage demands on their stomachs. Things are not going well at the railway company. NS has not yet recovered from the corona crisis, and trains are running with the highest delays in years.

Trade unions in other sectors are still showing little interest in employers’ pleas for moderation. A salary increase of 8 to 12 percent was recently agreed in the catering collective labor agreement. And recently, action was taken at housing associations, the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream factory in Hellendoorn and the national newspapers, including NRC.

There is also unrest at the railways abroad. NMBS in Belgium and Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany have recently gone on strike. DB staff are threatening new actions. These could disrupt train traffic in and to Germany again early next year.

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