National protest against education budget cuts moved to Amsterdam from The Hague

The national education protests against budget cuts by the now collapsed coalition will be held at the Dam in Amsterdam next Tuesday. The original plan was to have the protest on the Malieveld in The Hague. However, The Hague will likely be harder to reach because the trade unions are planning strikes on the railways in the western part of the country. De Algemene Onderwijsbond (AOb) has said that this is the reason they have chosen to have the protest in Amsterdam.

“We are feeling extra momentum due to the fall of the Cabinet. The protest will effectively be the kick-off of the electoral campaign,” a spokesperson for the education union, AOb, said. She expects several politicians to give a speech, although they are still working on the official schedule. The protest will begin at noon.

Staff in the education sector are going on strike against plans for budget cuts of 1.1 billion euros, which would mainly affect higher education schools. The AOb thinks that added cuts of 400 million euros will likely not proceed if the Cabinet falls. “But that 1.1 billion euros will still impact us greatly. We want politicians to see that education is what they should be investing in.”

There has not yet been a definitive decision regarding strikes from the NS staff, but the AOb and other education organizations have decided to move the protest after speaking to the trade union FNV. The education union is also connected to the union.

The FNV has set the NS a deadline of 5 p.m. on Tuesday to present a collective labor agreement that the unions find satisfactory. Otherwise, they will organize strikes, the FNV and other rail unions have announced. In that case, the first regional strike would occur on Friday in the provinces in the middle of the country.