Sub-contracted parcel delivery workers in the Netherlands have prevented de facto pay cuts aftertaking unofficial strike action last week.
Some 200 self-employed and subcontractor drivers delivering parcels for PostNL went on strike inAmsterdam at the start of last week and the action then spread to Utrecht and other towns over thefollowing days. A backlog of 90,000 parcels had built up by the end of the week.
The drivers were protesting at the plan of PostNL Parcels, whose volumes are growingsignificantly, to force them to deliver more parcels for the same pay, and no longer at theexisting rate per delivered parcel.
On Friday, however, PostNL and the postal union FNV Bondgenoten, which supported the strikers,reached a deal under which the deliverers will receive €1,000 a week for an average of 145 to 155delivery stops per daily round. Pay will be adjusted for delivery rounds with fewer stops.
PostNL extended the period of notice for delivery drivers from just one month to three andcommitted itself to holding talks in future with a new organisation representing the self-employeddrivers and sub-contractors. In addition, delivery workers will be able to take complaints abouttheir working conditions to a new commission comprising PostNL and deliverer representatives andwith an independent chairman.
About 80% of the parcel unit’s 4,000 delivery drivers are self-employed or work for smallsub-contractors while 20% are directly employed by the company.
Gerrit Mastenbroek, Director of PostNL Parcels, said: “We are delighted that we wereable to find a solution for self-employed parcel deliverers together with theFNV Bondgenoten and a representation of the deliverers. The agreements made provide agood fundament for a lasting collaboration between PostNL and the self-employed parceldeliverers.”
A PostNL spokesman told CEP-Research today that most of the parcel backlog was alreadydelivered on Saturday and the rest, mostly in the Amsterdam area, would be delivered today.
