Train cleanup starts as janitors return

Passengers riding the rails during rush hour Friday morning were greeted with trains that had finally been cleaned. Following the settlement of the janitors’ strike earlier this week, cleaning crews returned to work at 10 p.m. Thursday night.

The union representing the workers, FNV, told reporters in the Netherlands that there is a large backlog of trains to be cleaned, and it will take time to get caught up. The strike lasted for ten weeks, and was the third such strike in four years. Workers also went on the picket line for nine weeks in 2010 and 16 weeks in 2012. FNV said that the 150,000 workers will get a 6.6 percent pay hike over the next three years, and cleaners will “finally receive pay when sick, just like most workers in the Netherlands.”