Letters | Not union FNV, but Works Council should be UvA Board’s interlocutor

Last week, a strike took place at the UvA that was called by trade union FNV. One of the shoutouts was the slogan ‘Show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like’. The FNV completely ignores the fact that universities have a democratically elected body, namely the employee participation in the form of the works councils (OR) of each faculty and the central works council (COR) for UvA-wide issues. Every three years, UvA employees elect their own representation for the OR for each faculty. From the OR, a COR delegation is then elected. The COR is the discussion partner of the Executive Board, representing the employees as elected members. This representation includes members of the FNV, but also from other parties, such as De Amsterdamse Academie, as well as colleagues elected in a personal capacity. In this way, the COR consists of a wide range of colleagues with different ideas and views.

The FNV’s website states that “the UvA employees” are making demands on the UvA Executive Board with the strike. Whether you agree with those demands or not, the FNV completely misses the mark with this statement. It represents its members, but not “the UvA employees”, as the democratically elected COR does. It is not the FNV that is the Executive Board’s interlocutor, but the COR. Within the various faculty works councils, and also within the COR, opinions are strongly divided about last week’s strike. Only a small part of the OR representatives of UvA employees participated in the strike. ‘Show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like’ should mean that talks with the Executive Board are left to the democratically elected members of the works council, not the FNV.

Annemie Ploeger

Deputy chair of co-determination association De Amsterdamse Academie and member of the Works Council of the Faculty of Society and Behavior.