Solidarity and determination to wage a long fight helped Dutch dockworkers (FNV Bondgenoten) to win back some of the benefits they lost when a giant insurance company, Aegon, tried to rip-off their pensions.
On January 12, 2009, General Secretary Niek Stam brought a delegation of Dutch dockers to San Francisco where ILWU and Teamster members organized a protest outside the Transamerica pyramid building which was owned by Aegon. Almost 30,000 former port workers will see pension benefit increases of more than 13.5%. Another 18,000 pensioners will also receive benefit increases according to terms of a settlement reached two years after the protest in San Francisco.