Trade unions FNV, CNV and VVMC have announced that NS staff will take part in another strike on Friday, June 13. Due to this, no trains will run in the north and south of the Netherlands, so travellers should expect public transport delays.
After strikes last Friday brought trains across the Netherlands to a standstill, the country wasn’t out of the woods just yet, with further strikes on the table. Major travel delays hit the Netherlands on Tuesday, with another strike set for Thursday.
However, after NS made preparations to deal with the strike on Thursday, June 12, the unions called off the strike. Now, there will be a strike affecting public transport services on Friday, June 13, in the northern and southern parts of the country.
There will be no trains running in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Flevoland, Gelderland, Zeeland, Noord-Brabant and Limburg. While the strikes will affect these areas, train traffic in cities outside these locations could also be impacted.
The Dutch trade unions have demanded that NS pay staff an annual wage increase higher than the 2,55 percent currently on the table. Better employment conditions, including more leave days and equal treatment for staff working night shifts, are also part of the demands.
NS have yet to respond to the ultimatum. The Dutch rail company is also providing compensation to passengers for the inconvenience caused by the strikes. “Instead of investing that money in consultation and solutions, NS is using it to break the strikes. That is unacceptable,” director of FNV Spoor Henri Janssen said in an announcement.
The unions are open to discussions with NS, but are set to organise further strikes next week if an agreement isn’t reached. “Up until now, NS has never responded,” said Janssen. “The traveller is the victim of this. We would like to resolve this. But that is only possible if NS moves. The trains are not running because NS does not want to take good care of its own staff.”
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