"Workers aren't putting up with this anymore," union says as bus drivers plan strikes

Two travelers waiting for a bus that will never come at an Amsterdam Noord bus station during a nationwide public transport strike, 9 September 2026 - Credit: - License: All Rights Reserved Business Saturday, 10 October 2026 - 12:15

Regional public transport employees are set to walk out en masse in protest on Wednesday, October 14. If the strike does not have the desired effect, the workers will hold strikes every week until Christmas. “The negotiations have broken down,” Marijn van der Gaag from the FNV trade union told De Telegraaf. “Workers aren’t putting up with it anymore.”

In Rotterdam part of the bus services will continue running. The RET told Rijnmond, "We are currently assessing the impact.”

“You have to look after your future,” bus driver Tony Hogerhorst told De Telegraaf. “I have to do my job. I have obligations, but I also have rights.” In his view, those rights are slowly disappearing. “The breaks are being taken away, and the hours are getting shorter,” he told the news outlet. “We have to keep an eye on that.”

“We understand that the costs in public transport are high,” Van der Gaag said. “The problem is that too little money is coming from the government to the companies, and they are trying to recover the shortfall from the employees. We say, 'We don’t want that.'”

“A new concession, new buses, and colleagues: that, of course, costs a lot of money,” bus driver Hogerhorst said. He sees his monthly expenses rising every year. “If they then also come after our work in this way, what’s left?”

The FNV said it realizes that the actions will affect passengers. “But passengers also have an interest in employees who can sustainably continue doing their jobs in a healthy way. Sickness absence in regional public transport is already high. Putting even more pressure on them solves nothing and only pushes reliable public transport further out of reach,” Gaag said.