Trade Union Confederation FNV announced that negotiations between trade unions and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG ) had been successful. The news means strikes among municipal workers across various cities have been suspended. Over the preceding weeks, workers employed by various municipalities have been fighting for higher salaries and more favourable workers’ contracts. Industrial action hit several of the major cities, including Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and a bit later also Amsterdam, Den Bosch and Maastricht. As a consequence of the strikes to a large part conducted by street cleaners and rubbish collectors, the employer agreed to a series of changes to the collective agreement, including a structural wage increase of €240 a month as well as a 2% raise for all workers.
Read on: in English… Read on: in English (2)… Read on: in Dutch and English…
For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.