New protest on 10 June: budget cuts haven’t gone away yet

The collapse of the government didn’t change anything regarding the cuts to education and research, trade unions warn. On Tuesday 10 June, they will hold a large demonstration at Dam Square in Amsterdam.

Next Tuesday, between 12.00 and 14.30, students, lecturers, researchers, support staff and supporters will protest against the cuts of more than 1 billion euros to education and research.

The government has collapsed, but the cuts are still on the books – much to the anger of the protesters. In recent months, they held a relay of protests at universities and colleges across the country. These protests culminate in the announced nationwide demonstration.

Demolished

“This government has often been accused of getting nothing done and that the Netherlands was at a standstill”, says interim chair Dick Koerselman of trade union FNV. “This is certainly not true for our education. They have actively demolished it.” He hopes that people will come en masse to Amsterdam on Tuesday ‘to make it clear that these disastrous plans must be removed from the table as soon as possible’.

D66 leader Rob Jetten will be one of the speakers on Tuesday. Also taking the stage will be Luc Stultiens (GroenLinks-PvdA) and Sandra Beckerman (SP), alongside Abdelkader Karbache (National Student Union), Remco Breuker (WOinActie) and several others.

Work pressure

In the lead-up to the protest, trade union FNV circulated a survey, completed by 1,400 staff members from universities. The vast majority expect that work pressure will increase as a result of the cuts, and for 59 per cent, this has already happened.

By the way, this demonstration was initially supposed to take place in The Hague, but on that day the NS staff in that part of the country will be striking, meaning there will be no trains. Amsterdam is more accessible.