NOS News•today, 00:01
Last year, according to Statistics Netherlands, there were 52 strikes in the workplace, the largest number in more than fifty years. About 17,000 people stopped working. The main reasons for striking were higher wages and better working conditions.
Among the larger strikes in 2023 were those of bus drivers and train workers in regional transport, who stopped work for several days. Supermarket chain Albert Heijn saw a temporary drop in turnover due to a strike in five distribution centers.
Fewer employees are striking
The number of strikes was high last year, but it is striking that the number of employees who left work did not increase to the same extent. For example, in 2022 there were far fewer strikes (33) and only slightly fewer strikers (16,000).
Strikes over the past five years
| Number of strikes | Number of strikers | |
| 2019 | 26 | 318,000 |
| 2020 | 9 | 105,000 |
| 2021 | 22 | 28,000 |
| 2022 | 33 | 16,000 |
| 2023 | 52 | 17,000 |
In 2020, 105,000 employees temporarily stopped working, while only 9 strikes were counted that year. One of the major strikes that year was at steel company Tata Steel; the unrest then lasted about three weeks. Ultimately, the management promised not to implement forced redundancies.
2019 was a record year, when around 318,000 people went on strike. Yet there were ‘only’ 26 strikes that year. The records were mainly set because of major actions in education and healthcare. In addition, there was a major national pension strike.
Last year, most strikes took place at industrial companies. There were 28 work stoppages, involving 5,000 employees. Work was also relatively often lost in the trade.
Most working days, more than 60,000, were lost at companies in transport and storage.
Tags: strikes year workers participated
