Next week’s four day regional rail strike off the table for now

The nationwide four-day strike by regional transport workers that was set to begin in the north of the Netherlands on Thursday has been put on hold. The FNV labor union had given regional transport employers an ultimatum to respond to the union's demands for a new collective bargaining agreement by Sunday.

As the deadline neared, the FNV said it wanted to continue ongoing talks with employers, a spokesperson said.

The dispute revolves around one of the two collective bargaining agreements in regional transport, which applies to some 1,300 employees of companies such as Qbuzz, Arriva and Keolis.

For these conductors, train drivers and bus drivers, the unions demand that wages automatically increase in line with inflation, which is now very high.

Workers on regional trains in the north of the Netherlands were supposed to get the strike started on Thursday, when collective bargaining negotiations failed and stalled.

”On Thursday, December 15, we will organize a strike on the regional railroad in Friesland. On Friday, December 16, the regional railroad in the province of Groningen will follow and on Monday, the regional railroad in southeastern Drenthe," said Edwin Kuiper, director of FNV.

More strikes were expected to follow after that, but the unions were still debating details on Friday. In all cases, the announced strikes would have affected Arriva trains.

Kuiper previously stated that employers have "again and again" failed to fulfill their agreements. They announced the four-day strike when employers missed a deadline from the FNV, CNV and VVMC.

Shortly before that, the employers presented their latest wage offer. "They indicated they would present a better wage offer, but they did not keep that promise. Moreover, all the union's proposals were swept off the table," the union representative said last Thursday.

An Arriva spokesperson had called the planned strike unfortunate. "We were satisfied with the talks that were held, and that they are now being broken off again, we find regrettable. We would have liked to negotiate a little longer and we still hope that we can return to the negotiating table soon," the spokesperson said.