Utrecht higher education on strike: protest against budget cuts begins

Yesterday, hundreds of teachers, staff and students demonstrated in Leiden against the massive austerity measures imposed on higher education by the Dutch government. Today it is Utrecht's turn. 

UU staff are allowed to strike without taking leave and forgoing pay, but staff from the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU) must take a day off or appeal to their union's strike fund.

The HU administration says it shares staff members' concerns about the austerity measures but is not participating in the strike. By telling employees to take a day off or make use of a union's strike fund, the board is following the national guidelines of the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.

"Many HU colleagues do not feel supported by their institution because of this," says Douwe Dirk van der Zweep, board member for trade union AOb. “In principle, you don't get paid when you go on strike,” he acknowledges. "But this is a strike against the cabinet's policy, which HU also disagrees with. It isn't a strike against the employer. They can choose to withhold wages, but they don't have to do so at all. They are letting union members take the heat for them."

The HU board is asking its employees to do everything they can to avoid inconveniencing students. Van der Zweep says lecturers already do that. "A pay cut is a very unpopular request." So far, HU is the only institution withholding wages from strikers. "The President of Leiden University of Applied Sciences was onstage, supporting the strike. We haven't heard anything about wage deductions in other cities either."

Now, HU has announced that no wages will be withheld from employees who strike for less than two hours.

Relay strike
The relay strike began yesterday, March 10, in Leiden and The Hague. The police in Leiden counted around three thousand protesters. They hope that the Senate will reject the budget for education, which passed in the Lower House. MPs Rob Jetten (from centre-left party D66) and Frans Timmermans (from the left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA) attended the protest in Leiden, urging senators to reject the budget.

The strike and accompanying demonstration in Leiden is the first in a series of similar actions. Today, teachers and students from Utrecht University, University of Humanistic Studies and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences are doing the same.

The strikers gathered at Dom Square at 10:00 am to listen to several speeches. Then, they started marching through the city centre at 11:00 am. The protesters are expected to be back on the square between noon and 12:30 pm when the union will hand out free fries to the strikers. A picket line will follow in the city centre at around 1:00 pm.

Last week, DUB answered the most frequently asked questions about the strike. The UU administration is not joining the strike.