Police won't fine protesting nightclubs as part of action for better contract

The police won't act against catering establishments that violate the coronavirus measures from Friday to Monday morning. Police unions ACP, ANPV, Equipe, and NPB, called on their members to at least not intervene as part of the police's protest for a better collective labor agreement. De Nacht, an action by nightclubs and other night catering establishments to open in protest against the coronavirus measures, is planned for Saturday.

It is the second protest by the police unions that takes the form of lenient enforcement in the fight for a better collective labor agreement. On Tuesday, the police unions called on their members not to hand out fines for minor violations from Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday, the unions also called on their members to monitor the clubbing public as passively as possible this weekend. They called on municipal enforcers to declare their solidarity with the police's protest action. President Gerrit van de Kamp of police union ACP said that about 80 percent of police officers belong to four police unions.

The unions want police officers to focus mainly on "primary police tasks like emergency aid and services to civilians" this weekend. Cops will, therefore, be expected to act if there are calamities in the catering establishments, according to the unions. 

Last week there was an initial formal discussion about a new police collective bargaining agreement between the unions and a delegation from the Cabinet and the Minister of Justice and Security. According to the unions, this conversation did not end with concrete commitments on income, capacity, safety, and training.

In the run-up to collective bargaining, the unions launched a campaign in December against the high workload and understaffing of the police. "These actions aimed to make it clear to politicians and citizens how urgent the capacity problems are at the police. Unfortunately, the message of these actions did not come across clearly enough. Apparently 'The Hague' is counting on officers to do their utmost to maintain the quality of police work as much as possible out of loyalty and a sense of duty," the police unions said.

The unions will announce more actions later this week. "Every week, the public-friendly character will (unfortunately) decrease. That is soon inevitable in trade union actions that affect police work," the unions said in a joint statement.