CNV

Half of the 275 thousand temporary workers in the Netherlands currently have no or almost no work due to the ongoing health crisis, according to a study done by Maurice de Hond on behalf of trade union CNV. Another 40 percent of the over 500 respondents said they are worried that they will soon have no work.

"Very shocking figures," CNV chairman Piet Fortuin said to RTL Nieuws. "The government supports employers with billions of euros to keep temporary workers in service. But despite all that support, employers have sent away their temporary workers en masse. Outrageous."

Now that the government has implemented yet stricter measures around curbing the spread of the coronavirus, secondary schools and education unions call for school exams and central exams to be scrapped. "All gatherings are forbidden, so it is unthinkable that students will take school exams this week," AOb chairman Eugenie Stolk said  to RTL Nieuws.

The number of supermarkets in the Netherlands that are open until 10:00 p.m. on weekdays more than doubled in the past five years. Now one in seven supermarkets are open until late night, according to figures from website Openingstijden.nl, which keeps tracks of stores' operating hours, AD reports. 

After a year of difficult negotiations, a collective bargaining agreement was reached for primary education. The trade unions and employers agreed on a 4.5 percent wage increase for all teaching staff. They will also receive a once-off payment of 33 percent of their monthly wage and a once-off amount of 875 euros, education union AOb announced.

Nine out of ten hospitals in the Netherlands will be taking part in a strike for a better collective labor agreement on November 20th. A total of 82 hospitals and rehabilitation centers responded to the trade unions' call to strike. Employees of university hospitals will not participate because they fall under a different collective agreement, NU.nl reports.

The flourishing Dutch economy has a down side, and that is that workplaces in the Netherlands are becoming less safe, according to trade union CNV. A quarter of Dutch employees in high-risk professions have fallen victim to an industrial accident at least once, according to a study Panelwizard performed among nearly 1,100 employees on behalf of the union.

Just two years after opening its first Dutch store in Amsterdam, Hudson's Bay announced that it is leaving the Netherlands. The Canadian department store chain will close its 15 Dutch branches, where around 1,400 people work, by the end ot this year, NOS reports.

National railway NS fears that an early morning strike by its employees on Monday will cause “major hindrance” to train traffic all day. The timetable will be disrupted all day long if no trains run before 7:06 a.m., according to the rail company.

Monday will be a chaotic day for people who commute to work by public transport. NS announced that it will join an early morning strike held by city- and regional public transit companies, AD reports.

The public transit companies are protesting for freezing the retirement age at 66. For that reason they will strike from 6:00 a.m. for 66 minutes, trade union CNV Vakmensen said. The strike will likely also cause delays after its end.

The general association for school leaders AVS and union CNV are calling on school directors not to arrange a replacement teacher if any of their teachers call in sick. With this the unions want to show politicians and society that school leaders are no longer able to arrange replacements, and that they are under great pressure, NOS reports.

General education union AOb and trade union FNV Onderwijs en Onderzoek are planning a national strike in primary, secondary and higher education on March 15th. Various action groups, including PO in Actie and WO in Actie, support the strike, the Volkskrant reports.