Dutch 'Thatcher axes public sector

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ON Thursday and Friday May 27 and 28 the tram, bus and metro workers of Rotterdam went on strike against proposed cuts in expenditure by the town council between 1984 and 1987 of 120 million guilders.

De Volkskrant reported that the civil (public) servants' union AbvaKabo 'had only wanted to hold the strike on Friday but the personnel decided early on Thursday morning at an action meeting to go on strike at once." The strike was not supported by he christian union cro Despite the strike and demonstration in 'front of the town hall on Thursday afternoon of about 6,000 council employees from practically all services, to which processions went accompanied by ambulances and fire engines sounding their sirens, two planeg at the same time flying above displaying the slogan "special education in Rotterdam must continue at a high level", in the evening the motion for the cuts was carried.

Voting for the cuts were the main workers' party, the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) (the 'party of labour' ', which received 50% of the votes in Rotterdam in the general election for the Tweede Kamer (second chamber or House of Commons) in September and controls the town with the support of the social democratic D'66, as well ås D'66 itself _and the Communist Party (CPN), the Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij and the Politieke Partij Radikalen.

Conservative

It was the conservative parties, the Christen ' Democratisch Appel (CDA) and more right wing Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (VVD), which voted against the motion, although it is the CDA-VVD coalition government which is seeking to impose a series of massive cuts on the spending of local councils.

In Rotterdam PvdA councillors argued that by doing away with a number of autoAdvertisement