Unions

It’s been clear for some time now that the Dutch unions, especially the FNV (of which y.t. is a member too) have shook off their complacency and are becoming more militant. The cleaners strike of earlier this year was a good example of this. The union went into a traditionally unorganised sector and instead of just going on a membership drive actually fought and won a battle with the cleaning companies through high profile targeted strikes. It proved to the cleaners what a union can do for them but also what they can do for themselves; that they are the union.

Another part of the resurgence in union militancy is a renewed focus on international labour. There has always been solidarity with foreign unions of course, but too often Dutch unions have only fought their own corner. this too has been changing and a good example happened yesterday, at UPS. The FNV organised an harassement action in which members called the UPS service lines with complaints about the company’s behaviour in Turkey. Some 157 workers there who had become members of the Turkish union Tümtis have recently been fired by UPS, which the FNV members rang up to complain about.

It’s a good example of both the way in which the FNV has become creative at how to pressure employers and companies and how it’s looking beyond its own problems.

AbvaKabo is the largest Dutch civil servants union, one of the bigger union within the FNV federation of unions. As such it was the driving force behind the recent garbage strikes, in which new, radical methods of organisation imported from the US led the unions to victory. And this success, together with the earlier success in the cleaners’ strike has led to a new feeling of militancy within the union, which was noticeable during the leadership elections.

Because despite this recent militacy the union is still somewhat alienated from its members; even more so from non-members of course, who they do represent in negotiations but who see no reason to become members. Membership had dropped over the years and the incumbent leadership of the union has tried to reverse this trend by making the union more of a customer care organisation, including tax advice and such. Some of the more activist cadre members have taken a dim view of this and other modernisation measures, prefering, especially now, to focus on action rather than reorganisation.

There was a real choice than at the elections, but the result was a typical Dutch compromise. The incumbent chair remained in her post, but several leftwing members were elected as well. It will therefore be interesting to see what the union’s strategy will be in the next great struggle, in the negotiations over pay and conditions for health care workers.