The railway workers' union suspends strikes and resumes negotiations
The VVMC union, the largest union representing train drivers and conductors at Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), announced the suspension of strikes and its readiness to resume collective labor negotiations with the national railway company. This announcement came on Friday evening after internal consultations within the union.
The majority of VVMC members voted this week to reject the final offer made by NS for the new collective bargaining agreement, and the union officially informed NS management of this rejection during a meeting held on Thursday. The union confirmed its readiness to continue discussions in the coming weeks, noting that NS agreed to resume negotiations.
VVMC stated that it will use next month to assess the seriousness of NS in providing sufficient concessions to allow for the formal resumption of negotiations, emphasizing its desire to reach new and better agreements. The labor dispute has so far caused four strikes since the collapse of negotiations, with NS being forced to halt all train services across the country during the first strike in June. Days later, another strike in the Randstad area completely paralyzed train movement at the national level, while subsequent strikes were limited to regional impacts. In the aftermath of these disruptions, NS presented a revised offer that included a 4% wage increase effective March 1 of this year, followed by an additional 2.75% increase starting March 1, 2026. The company also promised a one-time bonus if the inflation rate exceeds expectations over the next year.
VVMC indicated that it has been negotiating with NS since January, emphasizing that its members deserve a good labor agreement, and that it should not take longer. The union had rejected the revised offer last week, keeping the possibility of returning to strikes. The FNV union, another major union representing NS employees, also rejected the offer, hinting at the possibility of new strikes if NS does not present an improved offer covering more than 17,000 employees. In contrast, most CNV union members agreed to the agreement.
For its part, NS welcomed VVMC's readiness to return to the negotiating table and considered it "good news on a late Friday evening," without providing additional comments on the details of the negotiations, but emphasized the importance of resuming dialogue.