Dutch rail unions announce another train strike planned for Tuesday, June 17
By Simone Jacobs
Trade unions FNV and VVMC have confirmed plans for another train strike in the Netherlands on Tuesday, June 17. Collective labour agreement negotiations between the unions and NS have stalled, which means that the walkouts will go ahead.
NS staff threaten train strike on June 17
Earlier in June, the Dutch trade unions announced that NS staff would take part in strikes after NS ignored an ultimatum for wage increases. Since then, the Netherlands has experienced major disruptions affecting public transport on several occasions as multiple strikes have taken place.
A meeting between unions FNV and VVMC with NS was planned for Monday morning to see if an agreement could be reached. If the talks were not satisfactory, the unions promised that a strike would take place.
The strike is set to take place on Tuesday, June 17, after trade unions and NS failed to come to an agreement. Public transport in the northwest and east of the Netherlands will be affected, including Amsterdam, Schiphol, Arnhem, Deventer, Ede-Wageningen, Enschede, Hengelo, Nijmegen, Zutphen, Alkmaar, Den Helder, Haarlem, Enkhuizen and Zaandam.
Dutch unions open to negotiations with NS
Initially, NS offered an annual wage increase of 2,55% for its workers. Dutch trade unions FNV, CNV and VVMC demanded a higher rise in wages and better employment conditions, including more leave days and equal working conditions among staff working night shifts.
On Friday, during the third train strike to affect the Netherlands this month, NS presented a higher increase of 3,25% for 2025 and a proposed 2,75% from March 1, 2026. Unions then halted train strikes for negotiations to take place.
According to NOS, CNV promised no new strikes until Wednesday at the earliest to give the negotiations a “serious chance”. However, VVMC and FNV promised to go forward with strikes on Tuesday after talks on Monday stalled. They have not ruled out calling future strikes off if there is a positive outcome.
Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more