The Northern Netherlands and the rest of The Netherlands have been in a sort of ‘protest mood’ in recent months
First there were campaigns from angry farmers, and then from contractors. Last Saturday there were demonstrations against Zwarte Piet. And today, employees of hospitals throughout The Netherlands will take action, demanding higher wages. Two buses with hospital staff are on their way from Groningen to the national action meeting in Utrecht this morning.
The action concerns about one hundred and twenty employees from the Martini Hospital Groningen. Those activists staying in the North wavied goodbye to the buses early in the morning.
“The turnout is great. We’re going to make our voice heard”, says nurse José de Boer before boarding the bus on the way to Utrecht, as reported by RTV Noord.
Hospital employees are taking action for a better collective labour agreement. In recent weeks they have already done that with ‘Sunday services’ at different locations; now it is a national effort.
Participation high
A total of 119 departments from 83 general hospitals in the Netherlands are participating. In addition to the Martini Hospital, these are the other two general hospitals for Groningen: Ommelander Hospital Groningen in Scheemda and Refaja in Stadskanaal.
Staff from the UMCG in the city-centre will not be participating: academic hospitals have their own collective labour agreements.
Image via the Groninger Internet Courant
