The judge previously only allowed actions so long as the delivery of essential mail, such as funeral papers and medical letters, was not disrupted. According to the FNV, this means that only 33 people can go on strike at the same time. “If there is a strike and other employees find out about it, they might want to join and so we have to let them down,” explains FNV director Mariska Exalto. “The result is that PostNL employees cannot go on strike as they wish and the small strike that is still possible must be done in secret.”
According to the union, PostNL employees are on strike because they want a better collective bargaining offer from their employer. They want everyone within PostNL to earn at least 14 euros an hour. Furthermore, they want at least a 10 percent wage increase in order to be able to absorb the costs of the price increase to some extent. They also want the workload to go down. Temporary workers should also be given a permanent appointment after working for PostNL for nine months.
PostNL made another gesture to the staff on Monday. The company will already pay some of the money from its collective bargaining offer to employees out of their December salary. FNV has previously said employees are “furious” at the “sweet caretaker”. The union is considering further action.
