Public transit strike next week

By Janene Pieters on April 27, 2018 - 09:43
Qbuzz_3013,_Groningen_Grote_Markt_(9305441007)
A Qbuzz bus on the Grote Markt in Groningen (Photo: Alfenaar/Wikimedia Commons). (A Qbuzz bus on the Grote Markt in Groningen (Photo: Alfenaar/Wikimedia Commons))

Regional buses and -trains will not be operating across the Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday. The court gave workers permission to strike, AD reports.

The regional bus and train drivers are striking for a lower workload, more training and breaks to use the bathroom. Unions FVN and CNV announced the strike earlier this week.

Employers tried to prevent the strike in court. But on Thursday the judge rule that in this case the right to strike outweighs the inconvenience the strike will cause. "Rightly so", Paula Verhoef of FNV said to AD. "Employers have been exploiting the drivers for years, driving times are getting tighter and tighter and there is no time for breaks. That must end."

The strike affects  regional transporters like Arriva, Connexxion, Qbuzz, Keolis and EBS. It will bring bus traffic to a standstill across the country, except for city transport in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. NS trains will still run, only regional trains will not. 

Fred Kagie of the association for employers in public transport VWOV called such a large-scale public transport strike at the start of the May vacation socially disruptive. "A day at Keukenhof or Efteling is now impossible for many people", he said, according to the newspaper. 

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