Wave of transport and gov't strikes to hit the Netherlands in September
Image credit: 015_EARTH / Shutterstock.com
By Simone Jacobs
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Dutch trade union FNV has announced that a number of strikes will take place in September, affecting public transport, government services, ports and healthcare. The unions are demanding that the government scrap cuts to social security.
Train strikes to affect the Netherlands in September
In the first two weeks of September, the Netherlands will be affected by multiple strikes. FNV chairman Hans Spekman announced that rail workers would likely participate in a 24-hour strike.
A nationwide public transport strike took place on June 24 this year, but according to Spekman, the strikes in September will be “bigger than last time”, reports NOS. Aside from the train strike, actions will also impact ports, government services, and the healthcare sector.
Fight against Dutch social security cuts continues
The upcoming strikes are part of an issue that has been going on for months. Back in May, Dutch trade unions threatened strikes if the government did not scrap their plans to cut unemployment benefits (WW) and disability benefits (WIA), as well as those to increase the state pension age.
The government then scrapped its plans to raise the state pension age in line with life expectancy and promised to revise the other social security cuts. However, the unions found this insufficient, so the public transport strike on June 24 went ahead.
According to Spekman, even after the warning strike, “the cabinet is not budging” so further strikes are necessary. No exact dates for the strikes have been decided yet.
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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