Equality, Staffing levels, Netherlands

The FNV trade union has submitted proposals to the government to set staffing levels in eldercare. The union wants to see two workers for every eight residents and emphasises that there should be a balance of different skill levels. FNV argues that this is a crucial measure that will help improve recruitment and retention in the sector by ensuring that workers are not overworked and have enough time to spend with clients.

(June 2017) A new report from the CBS statistics office highlights three key trends in the labour market reflecting greater inequality and less security. Overall the percentage of workers on permanent contracts has fallen from 71% to 61% while the labour market is becoming more divided between low-paid, low-skilled jobs and high-paid work, with few jobs in the middle. The report also found more young people and those with basic education are stuck in low-paid jobs with little autonomy or security.

The FNV trade union for prison staff has called for an urgent meeting with prison service management to discuss the implications of a new report on staffing, safety and treatment of inmates. The union believes that the report, "Out of Balance", by the Justice and Security Inspectorate provides further evidence of its concerns over excessive workloads and inadequately trained staff. The union now wants the prison service to discuss permanent measures to tackle these problems building on the temporary arrangements that were agreed last year by the justice department and central works council.

A survey of 1600 care workers by the FNV trade union has revealed disturbing levels of concern about safety, overwork and low pay. Some 70% of workers feel unsafe because government measures to tackle the pandemic are not properly enforced and only 25% say they have adequate personal protective equipment for a second wave. Three in four say they have a high or very high workload and 90% feel they are not appreciated by government or politicians. Seven in 10 want a structural pay increase and not a corona bonus payment. They say this is essential to make the sector more protective and address

The FNV trade union’s campaign for urgent action on workloads in childcare has been stepped up with some regional mobilisations cancelled in order to concentrate on a national strike on 8 July. The union is angry that calls for increased staffing and reduced numbers of children per worker have fallen on deaf ears and the employers have offered nothing to address the problem.

On 28 September workers at seven university medical centres took strike action with only emergency services being maintained. This is the biggest ever action in academic hospitals which employ around 80000 workers. The FNV and CNV trade unions have rejected the employers’ latest offer which would have meant only a 1% pay rise and EUR 750 lump sum in a three-year agreement. They are calling for a 3% pay increase for each year and a minimum increase of EUR 75 a month as well as urgent action on workloads. The unions argue that excessive workloads are creating problems with increasing sickness

Following last month’s strike in university medical centres, the FNV and other trade unions organised another national strike on 26 October, this time affecting more than three times as many departments across the eight centres. The action is effectively imposing a Sunday service across 279 departments including operating theatres, radiology services, laboratories, outpatient clinics and various nursing departments. All emergency care continues. The unions are calling for a 3% pay increase for all workers and action to tackle understaffing and excessive workloads.

The FNV and other unions that organise in the eight university medical centres (UMCs) are planning a third day of industrial action on 25 November unless the employers show willingness to re-open negotiations over pay, workloads and staffing. This will be the third day of action in the UMCs that employ around 80000 workers. The employers have said that they will negotiate over allocation of the extra €60 million of funding for pay provided by the government. However, the unions argue that even with the additional money this would still leave a below-inflation pay rise for the next three years

Around 600 youth workers gathered in The Hague on 29 November as part of day of national strike action organised by the FNV trade union. This followed an earlier one-day strike on 11 November. The workers gathered in The Hague to watch a debate on the funding of youth work in parliament. The union is calling for urgent action to increase funding in order to tackled the pressure on workers with growing waiting lists and an increase in people leaving youth work because of stress and burnout from overwork. The collective agreement for the sector which covers 32000 workers expired in November and

Youth care workers, members of the FNV trade union, took only the second day of strike action ever on 15 March. This is part of their long-running campaign to get a better collective agreement for the 32000 workers in the sector and to address workloads, recruitment and retention. The union argues that overwork and poor pay and conditions are driving workers from the sector and this only increases workloads for those who remain. Alongside better pay and conditions the union is calling for higher funding for the sector and this message was endorsed by the many organisations that joined the

Trade unions, including the FNV and NU’91, and employers in the care sector have made a joint approach to government to boost funding for the sector by €2.5 billion to address problems of low pay and understaffing. Problems of staff shortages are being felt right across the sector from care for the disabled, care for the elderly to mental health care and to University Medical Centres and hospitals. It is estimated that the current shortfall of 49,000 workers will rise to 117,000 in 2030. There are also major problems with staff turnover and high absenteeism. The ageing of the population will

The FNV trade union is warning that government funding plans for prison services will have a major negative impact on staff and inmates. A recent report by consultants PwC says that an additional €398 million is needed to adequately finance services over the next 10 years. In response the government says it does not want to invest more than €170 million and so is effectively proposing a cut of €200 million. The FNV argues that the government approach will have serious implications for work pressure and safety. The union says that there have been staff shortages and high workloads for years

The FNV and NU’91 unions have called a national day of industrial action across the hospital sector on 16 March when only a Sunday service will be provided. The unions are demanding a 10% pay increase in response to the surge in the cost of living and as one measure to help deal with the staffing crisis. The NU’91 also is also organising a broader campaign on the crisis in care with a demonstration in Utrecht on 9 March where it encouraged everyone to wear black and then to back its “every Tuesday in black” campaign.