Better wages: Trade union FNV announces national strike in timber industry

Employees of the Dutch timber trade will stop work for 48 hours next Thursday and Friday, trade union FNV announced. More strikes are coming, the union warned.

"Even after a series of successful work stoppages in several provinces and our 24-hour strike last week, the employers still refuse to agree on a proper collective agreement," said FNV action coordinator Dennis Vereggen. According to the FNV, there were previously work stoppages in the provinces of North Brabant, Utrecht, North Holland, Zeeland, and South Holland. "That is why we will now increase the pressure further and strike for two days. We will continue until our demands are met," Vereggen stated.

According to the union, about 6,000 people work in the timber trade. The previous collective agreement expired in March. Previously, the FNV had issued an ultimatum to the employers' association VVNH, the Royal Association of Dutch Timber Companies, with demands for a collective agreement. However, the latter rejected the ultimatum. Among other things, the FNV is demanding a structural increase in all monthly salaries of 100 euros gross from the employers in the timber industry and, in addition, a wage increase of six percent.

What impact the new strike will have is not yet clear. According to the NTTA, the impact of the first nationwide strike day recently remained limited. Employers were under the impression that only a "very small group" was on strike. "We have not received any reports from companies that they have not received any wood," the employers' association's response said. For its part, the FNV spoke of more than 400 strikers.