Netherlands braces for 24-hour public transport shutdown on September 9

The original NL Times featured image shows a GVB tram in Amsterdam during a previous public transport strike on September 10, 2024. The image is credited to NL Times and marked All Rights Reserved.

Netherlands braces for 24-hour public transport shutdown on September 9

People across the Netherlands should prepare for major travel disruption on Wednesday, September 9, as unions have confirmed that a nationwide 24-hour public transport strike will go ahead.

The strike will continue despite the Dutch Cabinet making concessions on some of its planned social security cuts.

Trade unions FNV and CNV said the government’s latest changes do not go far enough to meet their demands.

FNV chairman Hans Spekman said:

“Our ultimatum has not been met. That is why the actions will proceed. We are seeing that the Cabinet is moving, and that shows that the actions are necessary,”

The government has dropped plans to reduce some benefit payments and speed up the increase in the state pension age.

However, other changes have only been delayed. This includes a plan to cut the maximum period people can receive unemployment benefits in half.

The unions want all the proposed social security cuts cancelled, rather than postponed.

Spekman said:

“The Cabinet can keep delaying, but we will not rest until all the plans are revoked. Our actions will continue,”

CNV chairman Hans van den Heuvel added:

“We are not leaving workers with a stripped-down unemployment or disability benefit. The duration of unemployment benefits is still being cut in half, while people with disabilities are facing significant cuts. That is and remains unacceptable,”

VCP chairman Nic van Holstein also criticised the government’s response.

“Movement is positive, delays are insufficient,”

“We will not accept the demolition of social security now and we never will.”

The September 9 strike is expected to have a major impact across the Netherlands. Public transport workers will stop work for 24 hours. Previous announcements said the action would affect trains, regional transport and city services, including workers at NS, ProRail, GVB, RET, Qbuzz, Keolis and DB Cargo.

Van den Heuvel warned:

“The whole of the Netherlands will be affected by this. Especially the public transport strike will have a lot of impact. The Cabinet can still prevent this by scrapping all planned cuts. Then we will cancel all our actions,”

The transport strike is part of a wider series of protests planned by unions.

Port and harbour workers are due to stop working on Friday. Workers in the metal and construction industries are also planning strikes.

Government employees are expected to stop work and hold a protest in The Hague on Tuesday, September 8.

More union actions are also planned at hospitals, including University Medical Center Groningen, Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem and Maastricht UMC.

For travellers, September 9 could therefore mean little or no public transport across much of the country. CNV’s current strike overview says public transport in the Netherlands will be shut down for 24 hours that day.