Fashion and textile industry employees on strike from Monday

Workers in the fashion, interior, carpet, and textile industries will strike starting Monday, according to the FNV trade union. The union wants to use the actions to force a better collective labor agreement. An ultimatum that the union had set expired on Friday afternoon after the FNV members rejected the employers’ final offer.

Union leader Paul van Boxtel says employees are prepared to stop working at various companies. The union demands a 6.2 percent wage increase for the sector and a structural 100 euros extra per month. The FNV also advocates that wages automatically increase with inflation every year from now on. The union also wants employees who do physically demanding work in the carpet and textile industry to be given the opportunity to work less or stop working.

According to the FNV, some 12,000 employees work in the Dutch textile industry across 900 companies. The previous collective labor agreement expired in January. Since then, the FNV and the employers have been in talks, but according to the union, these negotiations are not going smoothly.