<p>Employees of FloraHolland to start strike</p>

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Employees of FloraHolland to start strike

In all probability employees of FloraHolland will start a strike at Thursday night, because the flower auction doesn't address the demands of the unions. So says Kitty Huntjens, director of CNV Services Federation. The unions had issued an ultimatum to the company, which lasted until Tuesday. "FloraHolland says that our demands aren't realistic and will not discuss them. The employees are ready for action," says Huntjens. The most important demand of the unions is that FloraHolland must give a better severance pay. In November the company and the unions stopped their conversation about the social plan, in which this severance pay is defined, because of stalled negotiations. Valentine's Day Rens Buchwaldt, the director of FloraHolland, thinks the threat of actions is irresponsible of the employees, the company and the sector. "In this period, all parties realise a considerable proportion of their annual income," says Buchwaldt. He refers to 14 February, when the flower industry use the occasion to make a high turnover because of Valentine's Day. FloraHolland expects that weeks turnover to be 135 million, half times as many as an average week. Aware Buchwaldt says he is aware of the fact that the redundancies can have severe personal consequences for employees. "We make these choices to keep FloraHolland healthy in the future for our employees and for our growers and dealers." It's expected that the employees will down tools at three of five locations of FloraHolland; Aalsmeer, Naaldwijk and Rijnsburg. FloraHolland has about 3,650 employees. Source: Horti daily - 5 febbraio 2014