A strike and crime, in its many aspects, are top news today, with a minister saying it’s not her job to be popular. A Hells Angels boss throws in the towel, lorry drivers are targeted by organised crime and there’s a new kind of criminal around.

Teachers fed up with minister
Today’s teachers strike is the most prominent issue in this morning’s press. Both Trouw and AD devote front-page space, and more, to today’s protests by an estimated 20,000 secondary-school teachers.

They’re up in arms about new legislation that will keep the number of lesson hours at 1,040 a year. Teachers and students want it reduced to 1,000.

Bringing down the number of lesson hours would be in accordance with a government committee recommendation, which Education Minister Marja van Bijsterveld “wholeheartedly agreed to” three years ago, both Trouw and AD note.

The minister, however, made a U-turn following pressure from Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, which props up the minority government. She endorsed new legislation, under which the number of lesson hours would remain the same but the lengthy summer holiday shortened.

This, the minister now argues, will reduce the workload for teaching staff during the school year. But the teachers counter that they don’t mind working hard - as long as they have an extended period off every summer to recuperate.

Trouw explains that the long school holidays are one of the last remaining perks for school teachers, who have borne the brunt of a raft of government cuts and have seen their salaries frozen in recent years.

Teachers’ confidence in Minister Van Bijsterveld has hit an all-time low, Trouw concludes. But, says the minister ominously in an exclusive interview with AD, “I’m not here to win a popularity prize.”

Hells Angels boss calls it a day
Today’s nrc.next breaks the news that the boss of the Amsterdam chapter of the Hells Angels, Daniel Uneputty, is standing down. He wants to spend more time doing other things, such as “being with his family, tattooing and running the Angels’ support shop”.

“I’m taking the same decision as Wouter Bos and Camiel Eurlings,” he quips – referring to the former deputy prime minister and former transport minister, who both recently quitted the rough and tumble of politics to spend more time at home.

De Telegraaf gives the news space on its front page, reminding us that the Angels have recently been embroiled in a dispute with their rivals, the Satudarah bikers club. We’re told the real reason for Mr Uneputty’s departure may well be death threats he’s received.

The paper says, what was once Europe’s most powerful branch of the Hells Angels has seen the “hard core” of its leadership disappear. First to go was Mr Uneputty’s predecessor, ‘Big Willem’ van Boxel: he was forced out in 2004 after being implicated in plans for a gangland killing.

More recently, two other prominent Amsterdam Angels were arrested by police on suspicion of offences including embezzlement and money laundering; while another two have left the club “for personal reasons”.

De Telegraaf reckons the once powerful club is heading for even more difficult times. It has been forced out of its clubhouse headquarters in Amsterdam and is apparently having difficulties finding new premises as the local authorities are fiercely resisting the Angels’ attempts to establish a new clubhouse in the capital.

Truckers under attack
A number of papers cover the dramatic arrest of three men last night after they were chased by police on a motorway south of Rotterdam.

The men had been attempting to steal lorries parked up for the night, says AD. They were heavily armed and all three were lightly wounded after being fired on by officers while attempting to make a getaway.

The police suspect the robbers weren’t after the cargo being carried by the lorries, but the vehicles themselves, explains AD. They were apparently planning to use them to hold up cash security transports.

In its coverage, de Volkskrant also takes a look at the wider story. Lorry drivers are increasingly the victims of robbery carried out as part of organised crime, it tells us.

While shops and companies employ sophisticated security measures to protect themselves against theft, drivers stopping to spend the night sleeping in their cab are easy prey. The robbers often spray gas into the cabs to knock the drivers out.

“The drivers don’t notice a thing only to discover in the morning that their entire cargo has gone,” says a transport organisation spokesperson. The paper says a decade ago this sort of robbery was unusual, but now there are 40 to 50 such incidents a year - and they’re on the increase.

Dutch gangsters, new style
The Netherlands will soon be facing a new type of serial criminal, warns AD. Under the headline, “New generation of criminals is young, clever and violent”, the paper profiles the modern, 21st-century gangster.

Apparently, these new criminals are not driven by drug-addiction or poverty but by the lure of status, power and luxury items. The gangsters are young adults, well-organised, professional and repeat offenders, who hit the ground running, and often use excessive violence.

Unlike old-style felons, they don’t follow the traditional career path from petty crime to more serious offences, but go straight into audacious robbery or large-scale drug trafficking. And that makes them much more difficult for officers to track down, says a police spokesperson quoted in AD.

The new generation of criminals is elusive, they operate in flexible gangs and communicate using social media. To tackle the new menace, Dutch police will be forced to adopt, adapt and improve, the paper concludes.