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ITF resolution on Dutch urban transport dispute
13 June 2008
The ITF is backing a union’s struggle to win a fair collective bargaining agreement for bus workers in the Netherlands. Workers have been taking industrial action over the issue for the past seven weeks.
Delegates at the ITF road transport workers’ section conference in London, UK, on 9-11 June, passed a resolution backing workers employed by transport companies Veolia, Arriva and Transdev; the companies are contracted by government to run bus services in the Netherlands.
Bus drivers represented by the ITF-affiliated union FNV Bondgenoten took industrial action at the end of April, after the employers and the union failed to reach a settlement over a new collective bargaining agreement. The union’s action escalated into an all-out strike in the past 10 days.
Workers are demanding a 3.5 per cent annual pay increase plus a 0.5 per cent rise in their annual benefit. They are opposed to the employers’ plans to increase the weekly working week to 40 hours without extra pay – an increase of more than two hours per week. The companies have also stated that without cash support from the government they are unable to offer any pay rise at all.
The ITF resolution includes a call on the employers to come back to the negotiating table to agree a mutually acceptable settlement and for the government to reflect the true cost of running urban transport when services are contracted out.
ITF Inland Transport Section Secretary Mac Urata commented: “We are urging all ITF affiliates who organise workers at Veolia, Transdev and Arriva to support their Dutch colleagues by bringing this dispute to the attention of their own managers. Other affiliates are being asked to show solidarity with the workers.”
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