arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

dcth passengers demonstrate against railway privatization

On Saturday, 9 June, many demonstrators gathered in the big central hall of Utrecht Central Station, the
biggest railway hub of The Netherlands. They had come to protest the privatization process of the Dutch
railways; which means less workers' rights, and higher fares and worse safety for passengers. A blond
female conductor next to an African immigrant passenger; from toddlers in their parents' perambulators
to students to pensioners. Papers were present, like Dusnieuws (Anarchist), Manifest (Communist), De
Socialist; also cameras of national SBS6 TV.

Led by a samba band including Brazilians living in The Netherlands, they marched through the station to
the inner city of Utrecht, wearing banners proclaiming worker-passenger solidarity, and shouting: The
railways are not for sale! When they arrived at the directors' building of the railways, hundreds of
demonstrators went inside through the revolving door. A spokesman demanded to see Mr Huisinga, the
CEO. The commissionaire said he was not in. The passengers' spokesman was surprised; as the new
regulations of the railways, due on 10 June, are widely predicted to cause chaos. Apparently, the railway
bosses were not meeting to prevent that chaos. The demonstrators then glued a giant railway one way
ticket to Warsaw [Poland] for the railways management to the commissionaire's room. This was because
the management uses money to gamble, buying assets in Poland, while neglecting public transport in The
Netherlands. I can only hope for the Polish people this management does not become as powerful in Poland
as in The Netherlands. One of the first fruits of the privatization process was that management voted
themselves salaries, three times as high as a government minister. As the demonstrators left to continue
the march, some pies were thrown against the directors' building: like in slapstick movies, pie-ing exposes
foolishness among the high and mighty.

After continuing to march through the city center, the demonstrators went to De Kargadoor hall. There,
a spokesman for the Passengers' Collective and trade union paper editor spoke; then, a historian on the
over one hundred years' struggle tradition of Dutch railway workers, including during Hitler's occupation;
finally, a Socialist Party MP. Then, a declaration of solidarity from Zambian labour activist Ms Malele
Dodia was read to loud applause (in Zambia, also major struggles against IMF imposed privatisation and
other hardships are going on right now). Then, debaters from the floor emphasized the need to strengthen
local actions everywhere.

From next Monday on, the railway workers will do "work to rule" actions to protest the anti-worker, anti-
passenger "reforms" by the management. The Passengers' Collective will support the workers' actions,
forming locally active groups everywhere.