With thousands of regional public transport workers striking on September 16, reduced services are expected to be running across the Netherlands.

Dutch workers demand higher salaries and better working conditions

With regional transport workers attempting to negotiate a new collective labour agreement with higher salaries, better working conditions, and a more manageable workload, the past two weeks have seen public transport services across the country affected by numerous strike days. 

As was announced by the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) at the start of the month, transportation workers are staging a national strike on Friday, September 16, with thousands of employees set to gather in The Hague on Friday afternoon. As it currently stands, Friday should mark the final day of industrial action.

Regional public transport operators affected by national strike

As this is a strike of regional operators, it largely affects bus services, with operators such as Connexxion, EBS, Qbuzz, Syntus, Keolis, and Arriva expecting delays and disruptions to public transport throughout the day - although they note they’re unable to determine exactly how great the consequences of the strike will be. Some regional train routes operated by Arriva and U-OV will also be affected.

Luckily, the majority of city-wide operators, for example the GVB in Amsterdam, RET in Rotterdam and HTM in The Hague, aren’t affected by the strikes and will run as normal throughout the day. The only exception to this is in Utrecht, where public transport in the city will be disrupted. Trains operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) will also run as normal.