50 years of FNV but does the union still have a future?
Today the gold pin of the FNV fell into the bus. Because of corona, no fuss.
As an executive member and FNV Consultant, I was the first point of contact for my colleagues in the event of problems related to work. Also in the collective bargaining process such as organizing meetings and actions, work interruptions or punctuality actions, all in collaboration with the FNV driver.
Been a member of the Co-determination Committee/Works Council for 24 years, 12 years as chairman of the Urban Management Dienst Den Haag.
It is forgotten that we owe this prosperity to the members of the trade unions. Years of struggle, consultation, strikes, punctuality actions have preceded this. Members have had to make financial sacrifices in order to achieve a good result for all employees. About a quarter of the workforce is only a member of a trade union. Are we perhaps too good in the Netherlands? #vakbondslid
In the field of industrial relations, a lot has changed over the last hundred years. For security in your job, decent working conditions and legal protection for employees, up to about a century ago we were completely dependent on the arbitrariness of employers. At the beginning of the last century there was still much talk of child labour, we did not know the phenomenon of collective labour and seven-day working weeks with days of twelve to fourteen hours were the rule rather than the exception. Payments in the event of sickness, a decent pension, paid holidays and many more things we take for granted today are the result of decades of negotiation, regularly accompanied by strong actions. In this way, trade unions have more than proved their usefulness over the past 150 years.
