The judge previously only allowed actions as long as the delivery of essential mail, such as funeral cards and medical letters, is not disrupted. According to the FNV, this means that only 33 people are allowed to strike at the same time. “If there is a strike and other employees get wind of it, they may want to join and then we have to disappoint them,” explains FNV director Mariska Exalto. “The result is that PostNL employees cannot strike in the way they want and the small strike that is still possible then has to be done secretly.”
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 per hour. In addition, they want at least a 10 percent wage increase, to be able to absorb the costs of the increased prices to some extent. They also want the workload to go down. Temporary workers should also be given a permanent appointment after having worked for PostNL for nine months.
PostNL made another gesture to the staff on Monday. The company will already pay part of the money from its collective bargaining offer to employees with December’s salary. FNV previously said that employees are “furious” about the “sweet keeper”. The union is considering further actions.