membership numbers of unions on the rise

• Linda de Groot

  news reporter

• Yuri Vugts

  news editor

From bus drivers to employees of the Bijenkorf and from garbage collectors to journalists: in recent months, many sectors have been on strike for higher wages, inflation compensation and less work pressure. Trade unions notice that it is brewing among employees. The willingness to strike is increasing, as are membership numbers.

Since the 1990s, the unions have seen more members leave than come, but now they are seeing a turnaround. “In August we suddenly stood at plus 800,” says chairman Reinier Castelein of the Union. Trade unions FNV and CNV see the same trend. The unions have the wind at their backs with inflation records, labor market tightness and high workloads in sectors that are struggling with labor shortages.

Every year there are an average of 25 strikes, but this year that number seems to be reached in the first quarter. “It is still too early to speak of a really large strike wave, but you can see that it is quite messy. I think there are enough ingredients for a restless 2023,” says strike historian Rosa Kösters of the International Institute of Social History.

The streets in Utrecht were polluted this week. The garbage collectors stopped their work. They demand a 12 percent wage increase, while the offer from the Association of Dutch Municipalities remains stuck at 5 percent. “It hurts me what we did, but it was just necessary,” says garbage collector Willem Bouwmeester. The strike will continue in other places next week.

Bus drivers in Dordrecht went on strike this week. But not everyone took part in the strike. Anyone who goes on strike and is a member of the trade union receives one working day’s pay from the strike pot. But those who do not claim this will have to pay the costs themselves. “Some people have three children and they can just make ends meet. If they go on strike and at the end of the month the debit card does not work when shopping, then you are there,” says Bouwmeester.

Bus driver Luciano van der Oost also recognizes this. “An average five working days in a row costs around 250 euros. That’s a lot of money if you don’t have a pot for it.”

The strikes did not lead to an agreement. That is why the actions will continue in the near future. “We have to wait until employers realize that it is really necessary that they come across the bridge and that they pay a decent wage,” says chairman Tuur Elzinga of FNV. Incidentally, the union itself is also involved in a discussion with its own staff, because the FNV itself does not want to meet the wage demands it makes to other employers.

Strikes from the past show that they are mostly effective, because in 60 percent of the cases demands are partially or fully granted by the employer. Nevertheless, the use of strikes has now expanded compared to the major strikes in the 1970s. “An important difference between then and now is the workload. That is now very clearly a theme in actions in healthcare or among bus drivers,” says researcher Kösters. “In the 1970s, that wasn’t the case at all.”