Unions VVMC, FNV halt rail strikes as final NS offer is sent to members

The unions CNV, FNV, and VVMC are going to present the final offer from the NS regarding the negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement to its members, chairman Wim Eilert of the railway union VVMC has said. The VVMC and the FNV announced that they are suspending all further railway actions for the coming period as a result. The unions have organized four days of strikes at the NS since June 6. The CNV have not announced their next course of action.

VVMC is the largest railway union within the NS, which made its final offer regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement on Wednesday. The railway company has raised the salary increase in the most recent offer. There will be better arrangements for NS workers who do heavy jobs. Employees who have done heavy work at the NS for 30 years or longer can quit work three years earlier.

The unions organized four strikes since the negotiations broke down. The first strike took place in the Midden-Nederland region on June 6. Because this area includes the Utrecht area, which is a vital part of the railway system, there were no trains throughout the country on that day. The NS were also forced to cancel all trains on June 10 as a result of a strike in the entirety of the Randstad area.

The other strikes came on June 13 and last Tuesday. These were regional strikes. June 13 saw NS staff in the northern and southern parts of the country lay down their work. On Tuesday, the railway staff in the northwest and eastern parts of the country stopped working. Although these strikes were regional, they also had consequences for the railway schedule and the rest of the country.

CNV negotiator Henk Jongsma told AD that although they are presenting the offer to their members, he is disappointed with the results. “We would rather have reached a result at the negotiating table, but we were not able to achieve that. That is disappointing.” It is currently unclear what their next course of action is.

He said that NS’s latest offer did have improvements. “This also includes points that are important to us as CNV, for example, when it comes to better agreements on work pressure,” Jongsma said. “For example, a fixed day off and working fewer shifts per week.”

FNV board member Henri Janssen was also disappointed by the offer. "Not only in terms of wage demands, but also in terms of early retirement for people with heavy work. NS offers no perspective for colleagues who now have to work night shifts until their retirement," Janssen said. He also feels the offer lacks proper structural agreements on the movement of wages with inflation.

"We have always said: our members have the final say. We are temporarily putting the actions on hold, but the ultimatum remains," Janssen continued. "NS therefore knows what awaits them if their own employees find this final offer insufficient."