LABOR MOVEMENT

Labor movement: translation

In 1861, Amsterdam book printers were the first group of workers to form a trade unionin the Netherlands. Five years later, they organized themselves on a national scale. The Ams terdam diamond cutters followed suit. Their goal was financial aid for their members and joining forces in their confrontations with the employers. In 1869, the General Union of Dutch Employees was founded as the Dutch Section of the First Socialist International (1864–1872). In 1871, a new anti-Socialist Union of Dutch Workers was founded.

Parallel with the segmentation of Dutch social and political life in the 1870s, trade unions developed in the direction of separate Protes tant, Roman Catholic, and Socialist associations and federations of unions. The last was divided into social-democrat, communist, and syndicalist factions. Strikes remained a powerful weapon in the struggle for better working conditions and higher wages, even in the period after World War II when the system of annual collectively bargained agreements on social conditions between employers and employees was the rule. In 1976, the Catholic and Socialist federa tions of trade unions merged into the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbe weging (FNV, Federation Dutch Labor Movement). Since then, the Christelijk Nationaal Vakverbond (CNV, Christian National Trade Union) is considered to represent Protestant and Catholic workers as well.

See also KOK, Wim (Willem) (1938– ).