The NS warns that no trains may run throughout the Netherlands on Friday. According to the FNV trade union, part of the NS staff will strike that day for higher wages.
The train staff would go on strike in Central Netherlands. It is a strike in “the heart of our operation,” writes the NS, which emphasizes that the action has not yet been officially announced.
The NS manages national train traffic from Utrecht. A large part of the trains runs through the province. “As a result, a strike in Central Netherlands has a national impact,” the company writes. International trains are likely to continue to run.
“The NS has not responded to the unions’ ultimatum for a better collective labor agreement, and strikes no longer seem avoidable,” writes the FNV trade union. Initially, these will be 24-hour strikes.
Strikes will be held in other regions in the coming weeks
Strikes will be held on June 6 in Central Netherlands, on June 10 in the West region, on June 12 in the East and North-West regions, and on June 16 in the North and South regions. “If NS has still not come to its senses by then, national strikes will follow.”
FNV had warned that Tuesday at 5:00 PM would be the “last chance” for the NS to meet the collective labor agreement requirements. The unions FNV Spoor, CNV, and VVMC want to enforce wage increases with the strikes.
The NS is willing to increase wages by 2.55 percent. The unions consider that too little because inflation is higher.