ProRail ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈproːreːl] ) is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram ), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part of NS Railinfratrust , the Dutch railway infrastructure owner.
75-547: Its Utrecht headquarters is in the former offices of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (known as De Inktpot , "The Inkwell"), the largest brick building in the Netherlands. The building currently features a "UFO" on its facade resulting from an art program in 2000. The creation of ProRail can be traced back to policies of the Dutch government implemented during the 1990s; it was decided that rail operations should be reorganised, and that
150-584: A case involving the International Longshoremen's Association refusing to work with goods for export to the Soviet Union in protest against its invasion of Afghanistan , that a no-strike clause does not bar unions from refusing to work as a political protest (since that is not an "arbitrable" issue), although such activity may lead to damages for a secondary boycott . Whether a no-strike clause applies to sympathy strikes depends on
225-486: A country must comply with the laws in that country. In some cases, usually involving multinational corporations that can pick and choose their suppliers and locations based on their perception of the regulatory environment, local state regulations have resulted in uneven practices within one company. For example, workers in one country may benefit from strong labour unions , while workers in another country have very weak laws supporting labour unions, even though they work for
300-429: A form of political protest. Like student strikes, a hunger strike aims to worsen the public image of the target. A "sickout", or (especially by uniformed police officers) " blue flu ", is a type of strike action in which the strikers call in sick . This is used in cases where laws prohibit certain employees from declaring a strike. Police, firefighters, air traffic controllers, and teachers in some U.S. states are among
375-446: A fraction of a day per worker per annum, on average, exceeding one day only in a few exceptional years. Since the 1990s, strike actions have generally further declined, a phenomenon that might be attributable to lower information costs (and thus more readily available access to information on economic rents ) made possible by computerization and rising personal indebtedness, which increases the cost of job loss for striking workers. In
450-442: A last resort. The object of collective bargaining is for the employer and the union to come to an agreement over wages, benefits, and working conditions. A collective bargaining agreement may include a clause (a contractual "no-strike clause") which prohibits the union from striking during the term of the agreement. Under U.S. labor law, a strike in violation of a no-strike clause is not a protected concerted activity . The scope of
525-545: A member refuses to cross a picket line. Sympathy strikes may be undertaken by a union as an organization, or by individual union members choosing not to cross a picket line. A jurisdictional strike in United States labor law refers to a concerted refusal to work undertaken by a union to assert its members' right to particular job assignments and to protest the assignment of disputed work to members of another union or to unorganized workers. A rolling strike refers to
600-420: A minimum guarantee for these services and punish violations. Similar limitations are applied to workers in the private sector whose strike can affect public services. The employer is explicitly forbidden to apply sanctions to employees participating to the strikes, with the exception of the aforementioned essential services cases. The government , under exceptional circumstances, can impose the precettazione of
675-490: A no-strike clause varies; generally, the U.S. courts and National Labor Relations Board have determined that a collective bargaining agreement's no-strike clause has the same scope as the agreement's arbitration clauses, such that "the union cannot strike over an arbitrable issue." The U.S. Supreme Court held in Jacksonville Bulk Terminals Inc. v. International Longshoremen's Association (1982),
750-456: A penal action (for a maximum of 4 years of prison) if the illegal strike causes the suspension of an essential service. Precettazione has been rarely applied, usually after several days of strikes affecting transport or fuel services or extraordinary events. Recent cases include the cancellation of the 2015 strike of the company providing transportation services in Milan during Expo 2015 , and
825-474: A profit. Today, corporate-run prisons hold eight percent of America's inmates. Since it is from the private sector, their main priority is not rehabilitation, but profit. This has resulted in many human rights violations across the United States. Strike action Strike action , also called labor strike , labour strike in British English , or simply strike , is a work stoppage caused by
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#1732786775583900-421: A strike where only some employees in key departments or locations go on strike. These strikes are performed in order to increase stakes as negotiations draw on and to be unpredictable to the employer. Rolling strikes also serve to conserve strike funds . A student strike involves students (sometimes supported by faculty) refusing to attend classes. In some cases, the strike is intended to draw media attention to
975-445: A work stoppage each year on average, these strikes also contained more workers than ever recorded with an average of 20,000 workers participating in each major work stoppage in 2018 and 2019. For the period from 1996 to 2000, the ten countries with the most strike action (measured by average number of days not worked for every 1000 employees) were as follows: Most strikes are organized by labor unions during collective bargaining as
1050-459: Is work-to-rule (also known as an Italian strike , in Italian : Sciopero bianco ), in which workers perform their tasks exactly as they are required to but no better. For example, workers might follow all safety regulations in such a way that it impedes their productivity or they might refuse to work overtime . Such strikes may in some cases be a form of "partial strike" or "slowdown". During
1125-529: Is carried out by several contractors, including VolkerRail , Strukton and ASSET Rail . Part of this division is the Incidentenbestrijding (Incident Response Unit) which manages various incidents on the network, like breakdowns, collisions or derailments. The capacity the whole railway network is controlled by ProRail. Every year on the second Sunday of December the new timetable for the following year goes into effect. Planning this new timetable
1200-457: Is done years in advance. In the planning stage all users can state the train services they wish to operate in this year. Companies using the ProRail network are: Railverkeersleiding (Traffic Control) is responsible for managing current operations on the network. Traffic Control is the section which operates signals and communicates with drivers. Short-term planning, less than 52 hours before
1275-510: Is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit , rather than being owned by the government . The private sector employs most of the workforce in some countries. In private sector, activities are guided by the motive to earn money, i.e. operate by capitalist standards. A 2013 study by the International Finance Corporation (part of
1350-443: Is won by the contractor that submits the best offer. The contractor receives a fixed sum per month, and is fined in case of failure to meet the required performance. Contractors are incentivised to minimise cost, while ensuring good performance of the assets. This is called prestatiegericht onderhoud (performance oriented maintenance). As of 2019, the recognised maintenance contractors are: Private sector The private sector
1425-548: The Chartist movement was at its peak in Britain, a true and widespread 'workers consciousness' was awakening. In 1838, a Statistical Society of London committee "used the first written questionnaire… The committee prepared and printed a list of questions 'designed to elicit the complete and impartial history of strikes.'" In 1842 the demands for fairer wages and conditions across many different industries finally exploded into
1500-619: The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , which guaranteed the right to unions and striking, but Chinese officials declared that they had no interest in allowing these liberties. In June 2008, the municipal government in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone introduced draft labor regulations, which a labor rights advocacy group says would, if implemented and enforced, virtually restore Chinese workers' right to strike. In
1575-491: The National Labor Relations Board permitting employers to establish separate or "reserved" gates for particular trades, making it an unlawful secondary boycott for a union to establish a picket line at any gate other than the one reserved for the employer it is picketing. Still, the practice continues to occur; for example, some Teamsters contracts often protect members from disciplinary action if
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#17327867755831650-729: The Preamble to the French Constitution of 27 October 1946 ever since the Constitutional Council 's 1971 decision on the freedom of association recognized that document as being invested with constitutional value. A "minimum service" during strikes in public transport was a promise of Nicolas Sarkozy during his campaign for the French presidential election. A law "on social dialogue and continuity of public service in regular terrestrial transports of passengers"
1725-530: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that there is a constitutional right to strike. In this 5–2 majority decision, Justice Rosalie Abella ruled that "[a]long with their right to associate, speak through a bargaining representative of their choice, and bargain collectively with their employer through that representative, the right of employees to strike is vital to protecting the meaningful process of collective bargaining…" [paragraph 24]. This decision adopted
1800-675: The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 , and the subsequent coal strike of 1902 . A 1936 study of strikes in the United States indicated that about one third of the total number of strikes between 1927 and 1928, and over 40 percent in 1929, were due to "demands for union recognition, closed shop, and protest against union discrimination and violation of union agreements". A 1988 study of strike activity and unionization in non-union municipal police departments between 1972 and 1978 found that recognition strikes were carried out "primarily where bargaining laws [provided] little or no protection of bargaining rights." In 1937, there were 4,740 strikes in
1875-568: The World Bank Group ) identified that 90 percent of jobs in developing countries are in the private sector. In free enterprise countries, such as the United States , the private sector is wider, and the state places fewer constraints on firms. In countries with more government authority, such as China , the public sector makes up most of the economy. States legally regulate the private sector. Businesses operating within
1950-409: The general strike may have been the secessio plebis in ancient Rome . In The Outline of History , H. G. Wells characterized this event as "the general strike of the plebeians ; the plebeians seem to have invented the strike, which now makes its first appearance in history." Their first strike occurred because they "saw with indignation their friends, who had often served the state bravely in
2025-422: The private sector should have a greater involvement in their operations, in order to improve operations. In 1998, the first outsourced small-scale maintenance operations took place. Despite this direction, government ownership of the national railway infrastructure operator has been retained. Instead, ProRail was established on 1 January 2003 when three separate organisations responsible for rail infrastructure in
2100-624: The 2011 Canada Post lockout was ruled unconstitutional, with the judge specifically referencing the Supreme Court of Canada's 2015 decision in Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan . In some Marxist–Leninist states, such as the People's Republic of China , striking was illegal and viewed as counter-revolutionary , and labor strikes are considered to be taboo in most East Asian cultures. In 1976, China signed
2175-464: The European rules for consumer compensation, yet the sector would suffer due to double digit price rises. In January 2023, figures released for 2022 showed that rail users had been subject to some of the worst performance statistics recorded in recent years in terms of delays and cancellations, which was in part attributable to strikes . That same month, RailGood, an employers’ organisation representing
2250-601: The French company Thales Group had been selected to provide signaling apparatus, referred to as the Central Safety System (CSS), in support of the ERTMS rollout. In September of that year, the multinational engineering firm Arcadis were contracted to provide engineering services for the rollout. During June 2022, ProRail appealed to the Dutch government to subsidise train operators of both passenger and freight services, noting that its charges has to comply with
2325-860: The Ministry of Transport allocated €4.5 billion for a multi-year investment to introduce the Triple A strategy along several key railway corridors. During the early 2010s, ProRail trialed high-frequency twin-track operations as a means of expanding capacity. Throughout the 2010s, ProRail has increasing the use of digital working practices and technologies throughout its operations; amongst other changes, various paper forms have been replaced with digital counterparts delivered via mobile devices. Trials of technology for various purposes, such as digital visual indicators of train occupancy, have been carried out. Continuous weather monitoring now routinely informs operations so that services can be reshaped where appropriate to minimise
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2400-404: The Netherlands were merged. Upon its creation, ProRail became responsible for the total cost of ownership and the long-term availability of the rail infrastructure, as well as to avoid operational safety being compromised. One early reform of the organisation, implemented for the 2007–2011 timeframe, was for all contracts to be publicly tender based on performance and process specifications. This
2475-553: The Royal Necropolis at Deir el-Medina walked off their jobs in protest at the failure of the government of Ramesses III to pay their wages on time and in full. The royal government ended the strike by raising the artisans' wages. The first Jewish source for the idea of a labor strike appears in the Talmud , which records that the bakers who prepared showbread for the altar went on strike. An early predecessor of
2550-511: The Soviet Union, strikes occurred throughout the existence of the USSR, most notably in the 1930s. After World War II, they diminished both in number and in scale. Trade unions in the Soviet Union served in part as a means to educate workers about the country's economic system. Vladimir Lenin referred to trade unions as "Schools of Communism". In France , the first law aimed at limiting
2625-464: The State or other authorities or may be a response to unsafe conditions in the workplace. A sympathy strike is a strike action in which one group of workers refuses to cross a picket line established by another as a means of supporting the striking workers. Sympathy strikes, once the norm in the construction industry in the United States, have been made much more difficult to conduct, due to decisions of
2700-414: The United States, the number of workers involved in major work stoppages (including strikes and, less commonly, lockouts) that involved at least a thousand workers for at least one full shift generally declined from 1973 to 2017 (coinciding with a general decrease in overall union membership), before substantially increasing in 2018 and 2019. In the 2018 and 2019 period, 3.1% of union members were involved in
2775-587: The United States. This was the greatest strike wave in American labor history . The number of major strikes and lockouts in the U.S. fell by 97% from 381 in 1970 to 187 in 1980 to only 11 in 2010. Companies countered the threat of a strike by threatening to close or move a plant. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , adopted in 1967, ensures the right to strike in Article 8. The European Social Charter , adopted in 1961, also ensures
2850-662: The ability of workers to take collective action was the Le Chapelier Law , passed by the National Assembly on 14 June 1791 and which introduced the "crime of coalition." In his speech in support of the law, the titular author Isaac René Guy le Chapelier explained that it "must be without a doubt permitted for all citizens to assemble," but he maintained that it "must not be permitted for citizens from certain professions to assemble for their so-called common interests." Strike actions were specifically banned with
2925-508: The collapse of the putsch. The use of the English word "strike" to describe a work protest was first seen in 1768, when sailors, in support of demonstrations in London , "struck" or removed the topgallant sails of merchant ships at port, thus crippling the ships. The first historically certain account of strike action was in ancient Egypt on 14 November in 1152 BCE, when artisans of
3000-467: The context. Some in the labor movement consider no-strike clauses to be an unnecessary detriment to unions in the collective bargaining process. Occasionally, workers decide to strike without the sanction of a labor union, either because the union refuses to endorse such a tactic, or because the workers involved are non-unionized. Strikes without formal union authorization are also known as wildcat strikes . In many countries, wildcat strikes do not enjoy
3075-427: The day of the train service, is also part of this division. All companies use this facility to compensate for unplanned events. Funding for ProRail is primarily provided via a government subsidy , on top of which fees are charged to the various railway operators (called infraheffing ). The government subsidy totalled around €2.5 billion from 2014–2017, and the infraheffing totalled approximately €200 million in 2006,
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3150-525: The development boom of the 1970s in Australia, the Green ban was developed by certain unions described by some as more socially conscious. This is a form of strike action taken by a trade union or other organized labor group for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. This developed from the black ban, strike action taken against a particular job or employer in order to protect the economic interests of
3225-421: The dissent by Chief Justice Brian Dickson in a 1987 Supreme Court ruling on a reference case brought by the province of Alberta ( Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta) ). The exact scope of this right to strike remains unclear. Prior to this Supreme Court decision, the federal and provincial governments had the ability to introduce "back-to-work legislation", a special law that blocks
3300-517: The first modern general strike . After the second Chartist Petition was presented to Parliament in April 1842 and rejected, the strike began in the coal mines of Staffordshire , England , and soon spread through Britain affecting factories , cotton mills in Lancashire and coal mines from Dundee to South Wales and Cornwall . Instead of being a spontaneous uprising of the mutinous masses,
3375-410: The general strike ) about 9 workdays per worker were lost due to strikes. In 1979, the loss due to strikes was a little more than one day per worker. These are the extreme cases. In the 79 years following 1926, the number of workdays lost in Britain was less than 2 hours per year per worker. In the U.S., idleness due to strikes never exceeded one half of one percent of total working days in any year during
3450-571: The groups commonly barred from striking usually by state and federal laws meant to ensure the safety or security of the general public. Newspaper writers may withhold their names from their stories as a way to protest actions of their employer. Activists may form " flying squad " groups for strikes or other actions, a form of picketing , to disrupt the workplace or another aspect of capitalist production: supporting other strikers or unemployed workers, participating in protests against globalization, or opposing abusive landlords. On 30 January 2015,
3525-566: The impact of bad weather even prior to its arrival. The organisation has also made use of digital twins of key pieces of infrastructure to improve maintenance operations. In 2021, the ProRail Monitoring Platform (PMP) was revealed, which monitors the majority of infrastructure assets overseen by the organisation and it intended to enable the transition from condition-based monitoring to performing predictive maintenance, facilitating more efficient use of resources. In 2014,
3600-453: The institution so that the grievances that are causing the students to strike can be aired before the public; this usually damages the institution's (or government's) public image. In other cases, especially in government-supported institutions, the student strike can cause a budgetary imbalance and have actual economic repercussions for the institution. A hunger strike is a deliberate refusal to eat. Hunger strikes are often used in prisons as
3675-671: The last forty years or more". One example cited was the successful formation of the United Auto Workers , which achieved recognition from General Motors through the Flint sit-down strike of 1936-37. They were more common prior to the advent of modern American labor law (including the National Labor Relations Act ), which introduced processes legally compelling an employer to recognize the legitimacy of properly certified unions. Two examples include
3750-451: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. Occasionally, strikes destabilize the rule of a particular political party or ruler; in such cases, strikes are often part of a broader social movement taking the form of a campaign of civil resistance . Notable examples are the 1980 Gdańsk Shipyard and the 1981 Warning Strike led by Lech Wałęsa . These strikes were significant in
3825-474: The legions, thrown into chains and reduced to slavery at the demand of patrician creditors". The strike action only became a feature of the political landscape with the onset of the Industrial Revolution . For the first time in history, large numbers of people were members of the industrial working class; they lived in towns and cities, exchanging their labor for payment. By the 1830s, when
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#17327867755833900-792: The long campaign of civil resistance for political change in Poland , and were an important mobilizing effort that contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist party rule in Eastern Europe. Another example is the general strike in Weimar Germany that followed the March 1920 Kapp Putsch . It was called by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and received such broad support that it resulted in
3975-698: The mass refusal of employees to work . A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances . Strikes became common during the Industrial Revolution , when mass labor became important in factories and mines. As striking became a more common practice, governments were often pushed to act (either by private business or by union workers). When government intervention occurred, it was rarely neutral or amicable. Early strikes were often deemed unlawful conspiracies or anti-competitive cartel action and many were subject to massive legal repression by state police, federal military power, and federal courts. Many Western nations legalized striking under certain conditions in
4050-424: The organisation released a report on various scenarios for rolling out the next generation European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) across the Netherlands. The Dutch government directed that digital railway signaling be rolled out nationwide; ProRail and NS have partnered to implement ERTMS and will initially focus upon retrofitting rolling stock for level 2 operations. During March 2022, ProRail announced that
4125-481: The passage of Napoleon 's French Penal Code of 1810 . Article 415 of the Code declared that participants in an attempted strike action would be subject to an imprisonment of between one and three months and that the organizers of the attempted strike action would be subject to an imprisonment of between two and five years. The right to strike under the current French Fifth Republic has been recognized and guaranteed by
4200-518: The period 1948-2005; the average loss was 0.1% per year. Similarly, in Canada over the period 1980-2005, the annual number of work days lost due to strikes never exceeded one day per worker; on average over this period lost worktime due to strikes was about one-third of a day per worker. Although the data are not readily available for a broad sample of developed countries, the pattern described above seems quite general: days lost due to strikes amount to only
4275-427: The postal service), and in more cases provincially. In addition, certain parts of the economy can be proclaimed " essential services " in which case all strikes are illegal. Examples include when the government of Canada passed back-to-work legislation during the 2011 Canada Post lockout and the 2012 CP Rail strike, thus effectively ending the strikes. In 2016, the government's use of back-to-work legislation during
4350-464: The privately owned British rail infrastructure owner Railtrack (replaced by Network Rail in October 2002), although ProRail has stated that it has intentionally made efforts to learn from the shortcomings of Railtrack, which had collapsed prior to ProRail's creation. The Dutch railway network is subdivided into 21 areas. For each area, all of the regular maintenance is contracted as one package, which
4425-502: The rail freight industry, publicly claimed that ProRail was letting down rail freight operators; specific complaints included increased infrastructure charges for 2023, which RailGood referred to "excessive", as well as allegations of mismanagement of the railway infrastructure. Railinfrabeheer (Rail Infrastructure Management, RIB) takes care of the infrastructure. This does not include most sidings on private property, these were sold off to Strukton Rail Short Line BV in 2015. Maintenance
4500-452: The remaining income was listed as 'other'. The fee that the public transport operators initially had to pay for this is lower than the cost, but has been progressively increased over time. In 2003, it was €0.64 per train km and €0.54 to €2.16 for stopping at a station. Railways in the Netherlands are not maintained by ProRail itself. Instead, it is subcontracted to recognised maintenance contractors . This model has been contrasted with that of
4575-478: The right to strike in Article 6. The Farah Strike , 1972–1974, labeled the "strike of the century," was organized and led by Mexican American women predominantly in El Paso, Texas. Strikes are rare, in part because many workers are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement . Strikes that do occur are generally fairly short in duration. Labor economist John Kennan notes: In Britain in 1926 (the year of
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#17327867755834650-475: The same employer. In some cases, industries and individual businesses choose self-regulation by applying higher standards for dealing with their workers, customers, or the environment than the minimum that is legally required of them. There can be negative effects from the private sector. In the early 1980s, the Corrections Corporation of America pioneered the idea of running prisons for
4725-609: The same legal protections as recognized union strikes, and may result in penalties for the union members who participate, or for their union. The same often applies in the case of strikes conducted without an official ballot of the union membership, as is required in some countries such as the United Kingdom . A strike may consist of workers refusing to attend work or picketing outside the workplace to prevent or dissuade people from working in their place or conducting business with their employer. Less frequently, workers may occupy
4800-412: The strike action (or a lockout) from happening or continuing. Canadian governments could also have imposed binding arbitration or a new contract on the disputing parties. Back-to-work legislation was first used in 1950 during a railway strike, and as of 2012 had been used 33 times by the federal government for those parts of the economy that are regulated federally (grain handling, rail and air travel, and
4875-426: The strike was politically motivated and was driven by an agenda to win concessions. As much as half of the then industrial work force were on strike at its peak – over 500,000 men. The local leadership marshaled a growing working class tradition to politically organize their followers to mount an articulate challenge to the capitalist, political establishment. Friedrich Engels , an observer in London at
4950-412: The strike, i.e., can force the postponement, cancellation or duration reduction of a national-wide strike. The prime minister has to justify the decision of applying the precettazione in front of the parliament . For local strikes, precettazione can also be applied by a decision of the prefect . The employees refusing to work after the precettazione takes effect may be subject of a sanction or even
5025-525: The strikers. United States labor law also draws a distinction, in the case of private sector employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act , between "economic" and "unfair labor practice" strikes. An employer may not fire, but may permanently replace, workers who engage in a strike over economic issues. On the other hand, employers who commit unfair labor practices (ULPs) may not replace employees who strike over them, and must fire any strikebreakers they have hired as replacements in order to reinstate
5100-427: The striking workers. Strikes may be specific to a particular workplace, employer, or unit within a workplace, or they may encompass an entire industry, or every worker within a city or country. Strikes that involve all workers, or a number of large and important groups of workers, in a particular community or region are known as general strikes. Under some circumstances, strikes may take place in order to put pressure on
5175-431: The theory of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon criminalizing strike action in his work The Poverty of Philosophy . A recognition strike is an industrial strike implemented in order to force a particular employer or industry to recognize a trade union as the legitimate collective bargaining agent for a company's workers. In 1949, their use in the United States was described as "a weapon used with varying results by labor for
5250-608: The time, wrote: by its numbers, this class has become the most powerful in England, and woe betide the wealthy Englishmen when it becomes conscious of this fact … The English proletarian is only just becoming aware of his power, and the fruits of this awareness were the disturbances of last summer. As the 19th century progressed, strikes became a fixture of industrial relations across the industrialized world, as workers organized themselves to collectively bargain for better wages and standards with their employers. Karl Marx condemned
5325-451: The work has been effectively performed, aiding by the introduction of sophisticated track inspection machinery. All track is inspected twice per month while busy main lines can be inspected as often as once per week. Trackwork, such as grinding, was largely outsourced; working practices also changed, moving from corrective grinding to preventive grinding to both ease and lower the cost of the work. The implementation of real time asset monitoring
5400-531: The workplace, but refuse to work. This is known as a sit-down strike . A similar tactic is the work-in , where employees occupy the workplace but still continue work, often without pay, which attempts to show they are still useful, or that worker self-management can be successful. For instance, this occurred with factory occupations in the Biennio Rosso strikes – the "two red years" of Italy from 1919 to 1920. Another unconventional tactic
5475-579: Was adopted on 12 August 2007, and it took effect on 1 January 2008. In Italy, the right to strike is guaranteed by the Constitution ( article 40 ). The law number 146 of 1990 and law number 83 of 2000 regulate the strike actions. In particular, they impose limitations for the strikes of workers in public essential services, i.e., the ones that "guarantee the personality rights of life, health, freedom and security, movements, assistance and welfare, education, and communications". These limitations provide
5550-542: Was also pursued, by 2006, approximately 1,000 switches in The Netherlands had been equipped with remote condition monitoring equipment. In the late 2000s, in response to repeated year-on-year rises in both passenger and freight traffic on the network, ProRail developed a new 'Triple A' strategy to deliver a 50 percent increase in capacity, to be achieved via the adoption of smarter planning, the reorganisation of train services, and new construction works. In late 2008,
5625-408: Was intended to facilitate effective competition to be awarded contract work while retaining the public service orientation sought by the government. Key functions, such as track inspection, had transitioned to the private sector by 2006. Jan Swier, ProRails Strategic Advisor for Maintenance and Renewals, noted that there were initial concerns over this safety-critical work being performed externally, yet
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