Worker strike to disrupt operations at ASML, Bosch and other major companies
The FNV labor union has announced plans for a strike to hit major employers in the industrial sector on Friday. The union hopes to severely impact operations at several major Dutch employers, including ASML, DAF Trucks, the Tilburg location of German multinational company Bosch, and Nedri Spanstaal.
FNV is demanding that the government completely withdraw its plans, which include halving the maximum duration of unemployment benefits (WW) from two years down to just one year, introducing sharp budget cuts affecting those who are long-term sick or disabled, and accelerating increases to the retirement age threshold. The industrial walkout is part of a heavily escalating, nationwide wave of resistance by the FNV against the Cabinet's proposed austerity measures.
Workers from prominent large-scale industrial and technology companies across the Netherlands will walk out to protest the government's highly controversial social security cuts, the union previously announced. The strike is scheduled as a 2-hour work stoppage accompanied by a local protest action at Stadhuisplein in Eindhoven.
This Friday's action serves as a direct follow-up to a massive nationwide morning public transport stoppage on June 24, and initial industrial actions on June 26. This specific event was originally scheduled for last week but was abruptly cancelled due to the historic heatwave that brought extreme, record-breaking temperatures to many parts of the country.
The FNV, CNV, and De Unie federations have explicitly stated that if the Cabinet refuses to drop its planned budget cuts on unemployment and disability benefits, these short stoppages will transform into widespread, full 24-hour national strikes across multiple sectors immediately following the summer holidays.
