News

Postal workers of TNT in The Netherlands will be on strike tomorrow. ABVAKABO FNV and other unions called for a 24hrs strike as a first day of action against the proposed massive lay-offs by TNT. The postal company says at least 3100 people will be forced to leave their job. However, postal workers say their work is not disappearing; the company seeks to replace decent and fulltime ‘mailman’ jobs by lower paid mail deliverers working on part-time contracts.



The unions have negotiated for over a year to look for ways to help people find other jobs and reduce outsourcing, which is a practice that has cost already many jobs. The unions say that an insourcing strategy only could give decent jobs for over a thousand postal workers now under threat of losing their job.



If TNT doesn’t give in to the union demands for a slow down of the reorganisation process and other ways to prevent lay-offs after the one day strike, unions warn for more action and strikes to come. On the day of strike postal workers from all over the Netherlands will demonstrate at TNT office in The Hague and at the Dutch ministry of economic affairs. The ministry is blamed as well for liberalising the postal market which caused severe competition on working condition in the postal sector and a ‘race to the bottom’. This is according to the company the reason for the mass lay-off at TNT. More information is available on the ABVAKABO FNV web page at; http://www.abvakabofnv.nl



Messages of support can be sent to ABVAKABO FNV at; jvandenberge@abvakabo.nl