Several rush hour train strikes will hit major Dutch cities, transit hubs this month

Trade union FNV has announced strikes at ProRail that will impact train traffic in large Dutch cities during rush hour on several days this month. The trade union is striking for a higher wage increase than ProRail is willing to provide in the collective bargaining negotiations. FNV wants an average wage increase of 13 percent, ProRail would go no higher than an average increase of 5.2 percent.

The strikes will happen at train traffic control centers in several places in the Netherlands. With no one working in train traffic control, it is impossible to run trains safely.

The first strike will be at De Kijfhoek traffic control post on Monday, November 11 from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. The other strikes will all be during morning rush hour, from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. They will be at the Amsterdam/Alkmaar post on Wednesday, November 13, Utrecht/Amersfoort on Friday, November 15, Rotterdam/The Hague/Roosendaal on Monday, November 18, Eindhoven/Maastricht on Wednesday, November 20, and Zwolle/Groningen/Arnhem on Friday, November 22.

FNV expects that train traffic will be shut down on those routes during the strikes, which will obviously impact travelers. “We are very sorry about this,” FNV director Carl Kraijenoord said. “But it is really necessary to take action to maintain purchasing power for everyone employed by ProRail. No one works to become poorer.”

The trade union understands that a 13 percent wage bump sounds like a lot, but pointed out that the previous collective labor agreement was concluded just before inflation spiked massively in 2022. “And that peak has to be corrected,” Kraijenoord said. “Ultimately, we want ProRail employees to be able to put just as much in their shopping carts in the supermarket as before. Maintaining purchasing power is our most important argument.”

“If the employer still wants to talk after the announcement of our actions, we are of course always prepared to do so. The condition is that we can then discuss a substantial wage increase for the employees,” Kraijenoord said.

The two sides are very far apart in wage negotiations. ProRail said the most it could offer was an average pay raise of 5.2 percent, including a 7.9 percent raise for those earning the least. It argued that the labor union’s demand amounts to a 15-percent pay hike for low-income workers and 10 percent more pay for those in the middle-income segment.

The ProRail contract covers 3,500 employees, many of whom work in traffic control on the railroad network. It is not possible to run passenger and freight trains safely during strikes by these workers.

The company said it rejected the FNV’s ultimatum because it would force the infrastructure firm to spend 49 million euros above its own offer on its workers. The rail manager noted that labor unions CNV and VHS Railprofessionals already agreed to ProRail’s final offer.

“ProRail already indicated in that final offer that it had gone to the limit in terms of wage improvement,” the company stated. “The extra money requested by FNV would then have to be financed by ProRail from its own resources. That is therefore at the expense of our tasks as rail manager and of jobs at ProRail,” the company continued.

“ProRail is facing a major maintenance task for the railway and must keep a close eye on costs.”