“We are there for a fair and social Netherlands,” says the CNV trade union on its website, but not everyone has understood that correctly. An unknown number of members who are members of both CNV and trade union FNV abused the double membership by requesting strike money from both unions during strikes. This is the compensation that unions pay to members who participate in a strike supported by a union.
Presumably there have been members who collected strike money twice during a strike, but the unions have only recently been informed about this by strike leaders. They’re ending it now. “From Monday you can still be a member of two unions at the same time, but from then on you can only get strike money from one union,” says Jeroen Tjepkema of CNV. The unions are not allowed to exchange names of strikers due to privacy legislation.
The unions do intend to be more careful when registering strikers. “If people first go to table A and then to table B when registering, that will stand out.” Those caught will receive a chargeback on the bus.
The standard amount that CNV and FNV use for strikes has been 81.93 euros per day since 1 January. The first five days, strikers receive 85 percent of that amount, for the following days 115 percent of the standard amount is paid. Someone who receives strike pay twice, in some cases receives more than he would have received from his employer.
- It’s brewing among employees: union membership numbers on the rise
