Opinion On Strikes And Labour
A strike in any industry should be supported by everyone that isn’t a business leader in that industry. And business leaders are only excluded here because they should be preventing these strikes from happening in the first place, by providing good benefits and pay to their workers.
Today and yesterday a part of public transit in The Netherlands is on strike. Regional buses, trams and local trains have been called to a strike by the national union representing them. A lot of drivers and engineers seem to have answered this call because yesterday morning I was at my bus stop for just over an hour until I could get a bus to work. Well I say that, but I took walks in between waiting just to keep the blood flowing, it was cold.
I got to work half an hour late, not too bad, but I left from home half an hour earlier to ensure I got there. When trying to get home, I had to call a couple of people, see if they wanted to drive. No one was able to, already home or whatever. Mind you it’s an hour long bus drive, I don’t blame them for not being able to pick me up, they all have their own business to take care of. Then I checked if I could catch a train, go the long way around by rail, then hire a bike to go home. No can do, I would have been home at 9. So I waited a total of 2+ hours at the station waiting for a bus, I was home at 7. Wonderful.
I support this strike. I am not entirely sure what the deal is with their collective bargaining, why negotiations are stuck where they are, on what points, but I support this strike. Just feels bad that I had to wait 3 hours today just to get on buses. Maybe I need to find a job closer to home. I’ve been finding some more reasons to make that a priority in the near future, so I might get on that this weekend. Just have a look around.