The collective labor agreement negotiations for the thirteen thousand employees in regional transport are stuck and that will not change in the short term. Chairman Fred Kagie of the Association of Public Transport Employers (VWOV) currently sees nothing in the arrival of a mediator. “Perhaps it is not wrong that the sector has not had a new collective labor agreement for a while,” he says to NU.nl.
According to Kagie, the employers have gone to great lengths during the last negotiations. “That offer is off the table and something better will not come. We will wait for this week’s strikes and then we will look further.”
According to the VWOV, which represents the companies Arriva, EBS, Keolis Nederland, RET, Transdev and Qbuzz, there is no question of a mass strike. “On Monday, half of the buses of carriers participating in the strike did not run. We assume the same numbers for Tuesday. We call on travelers to keep an eye on the timetable online,” says Kagie.
The chairman emphasizes that six thousand people are employed every day. “So about three thousand of them are on strike, but I wonder how that will develop in the coming days. We are not going to see the whole of the Netherlands come to a standstill, but it will disrupt things.”
‘We really wanted to press ahead, but the unions walked away’
Kagie was still negotiating with trade unions FNV and CNV three weeks ago. “We really wanted to press ahead to come to a new collective agreement, but the unions walked away.”
The latest offer from the employers included an 8 percent wage increase. “We also want to make agreements that reduce the workload. In this context, we have also proposed a generation pact scheme that employers would pay in full. This is a scheme where you can work 60 percent from the age of 63, get paid 80 percent and accrue 100 percent pension .”
According to Kagie, this arrangement is an important measure to spare older employees in the sector. The VWOV chairman also indicates that striking is pointless. “We can’t go beyond this offer. A lot of companies are in the red and it doesn’t look like we’re going to make a return this year. So there’s just no more money. If we start talking again, the negotiations have to start all over again to start.”
Trade union: ‘Neutral party can play an important role’
FNV director Marijn van der Gaag says he is always open to solving the situation. “And then a neutral party can play an important role.”
Van der Gaag also says that something needs to be done about the high workload. “That’s the biggest problem. Driving times and breaks have been completely eroded. Monday 5,000 to 6,000 people went on strike, the employers can say what they want.”
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