A court in The Hague has ruled that the street cleaners in The Hague can go on strike on Thursday and Friday. The city council had applied for a temporary injunction against the cleaners’ trade unions AbvaKabo FNV and CNV Publieke Zaak.
The cleaners are striking for better working conditions, but the city council says the timing of the strike is “irresponsible”.
Friday is Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day. 30 April is Queen Beatrix’ official birthday and traditionally a day of celebrations throughout the country. In The Hague there are also celebrations on the evening before and through the night, the Haagse KoninginneNach. Both events will produce large amounts of rubbish in the streets.
The council called the ruling “disappointing” and says it wants to get together with the emergency services and the unions as quickly as possible, to work out a plan to deal with what it calls “unsafe situations”.
The court decision means that three major cities in the Netherlands will be without street cleaning services on Friday. The trade unions have also organised strike actions in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Amsterdam city council decided against taking the unions to court, after they agreed to reduce their original one-week strike to a single day. Utrecht city council has also accepted the strike.
The street cleaners will be back at work on Friday night/Saturday morning, once Queen’s Day is over.
