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Under
pressure of the FNV Bondgenoten union, Dutch Railways (NS) has
abstained from the use of scabs (strike-breakers) in order to clean
stations and trains, becoming filthy after three days of strike of
cleaners for a new collective agreement. At a demonstration of cleaning
workers, Bondgenoten sector responsible Mari Martens said NS was "the
most miserly of principals." In their campaign "Clean Enough", the
cleaners demand a 3% pay increase, more training and higher travelling
allowances. On a parliamentary hearing earlier in February, cleaners
gave striking examples of work pressure linked with low pay. The
cleaning employers' association argues not to be able to pay wage
increases because of tariff pressure of the large principals. FNV
Bondgenoten already aimed cleaners' actions at principals like NS,
large banks, hospitals, and universities. On 27 February cleaners at
Reed Elsevier offices went on strike too (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 2 March 2009).
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This
article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims
to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support
the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.
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