RNW Press Review – Thursday 7 February 2008 – by Georg Schreuder Hes

Today's AD reports that the Dutch national railways, or NS, still has not put together the anti-aggression teams it had promised to create to reduce aggression on trains.

As of 1 January of this year, a change in the law means that only specially trained conductors are allowed to use violence to restrain or arrest aggressive passengers. All other conductors are supposed to hush up arguments or, when things really get out of hand, call in an assistance team consisting of their specially trained colleagues.

But there's the rub. Even though the NS knew for two years about the impending legal changes, it has only been able to find 300 of the 600 specially trained conductors it needs for the assistance teams. A spokesperson for one of the railway unions says: "I fear that many of the 300 available conductors will quit because of uncertainties about their legal position."

The director of another union argues that the NS should train all its conductors how to deal with violent situations, but the NS says this would take too much time and not all conductors are mentally and physically suitable.

More partially disabled back to work
Trouw reports a substantial drop in unemployment figures for partially disabled workers. The paper writes that ‘things are going in the right direction’ for people with a limited work disability. More and more often, they go back to work, usually for their own employers.

A recent survey shows that in 2007, 62 percent of the above-mentioned category went back to work within two years, compared to 46 percent in 2006. Under Dutch labour laws, workers who are 35 percent disabled or less no longer qualify for disability benefits.

When the current labour laws were first introduced, employers pledged they would keep workers with minor disabilities on their payrolls. The recent survey shows that after initial difficulties, employers are increasingly making good on their pledges; most workers with minor disabilities went back to work for their old companies.

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