Thousands of youth care workers to strike mid-March

A few thousand employees in youth care will strike for 24 hours on March 15, trade union FNV announced. With this second strike ever in the sector, the youth care workers are protesting for a better collective labor agreement, NU.nl and RTL Nieuws report. 

FNV issued an ultimatum to the Cabinet with its demands in the collective bargaining. The union wants planned cuts to youth care to be scrapped, for the government to ensure that money municipalities receive for youth care is actually spent on youth care, and a wage increase for employees. "The responsible Ministers had not responded to the ultimatum this morning," said FNV Youth Care. 

During the strike, FNV will also protest on the Malieveld in The Hague. "Not only thousands of youth care workers will participate in this, but also young people, parents, and other parties like youth lawyers," the union said.

All plannable care will be canceled for the duration of the strike, but emergency care will still be available. 

The first-ever youth care strike was in 2019. Municipalities became responsible for youth care when it was decentralized in 2015. Since then, there have been significant cuts to youth care, resulting in major shortages and waiting lists that could span years, according to RTL.