Piecework, wages below the legal minimum; the privatised European postal market is gripped by fierce competition. As a result, thousands of Dutch postmen will lose their jobs. The former state-owned postal company TNT says it has no other options in the face of fierce competition and decreasing numbers of letters and packages.

However, critics say the Netherlands has moved much too fast in its enthusiasm to privatise the postal market. The reorganisation had been announced earlier, but it was only at the weekend that postmen received the concrete plans in their letterboxes. All postmen with contracts for more than 25 hours a week will lose their jobs. And forced dismissals are not being ruled out.

Written Off
Postman Gerard van Os, who has been a postman for 37 years, says this means that he and many of his colleagues will never find a job again.

“I’m 57 years old. Our company has an ageing work force. The average age is now 52, these older workers won’t stand a chance in the labour market, and there is no alternative. The market is depressed too. Postmen have only limited education. People over 50 already have practically no chance of finding a job and those over 55 have no chance at all; in this society you have been written off”.

Unfair competition
Mr Van Os feels he is a victim of the privatisation of the European postal market. The European Commission believed stronger competition would lead to lower rates and increased efficiency. However, in practice, it has mainly led to lower wages for postmen and unfair competition. It has left TNT’s postmen highly frustrated.

“Because they are working their butts off to keep this company financially sound. The bags are still full of mail. They are working really hard to work as efficiently as possible. And they feel let down by politics. Because they understand full well that you have to reorganise when mail volume goes down, but they cannot understand why politics tolerates unfair competition”.

Below minimum wage
The alleged unfair competition comes from new postal companies which hire only freelancers who are being paid piecework wages, often below the legal minimum. The trade unions have reached agreement with these companies that these jobs must be converted into permanent contracts. However, Socialist Party MP Sharon Gasthuizen says that in practice the newcomers on the postal market simply ignore these agreements.

“The unions have been saying for a long time that the agreement with the postal companies lacks teeth, so they sought support from politics. Politics was expected to ensure that the unions could make solid agreements forcing the new postal companies to pay their workers decent wages, but politics has not really been listening”.

Village idiot
The Netherlands was one of the first EU member states to allow new companies to compete on its postal market, but failed to take measures ensuring acceptable wages for postmen. Countries like Germany and Belgium have taken adequate measures in this regard, making the Netherlands look like Europe’s ‘village idiot’.

Sharon Gasthuizen resolutely rejects the argument that increased competition from the internet and e-mail inevitably leads to dismissals. Research by the Dutch economic affairs ministry shows that in the past ten years the volume of postal matter has dropped only marginally, from 5.4 billion to 5.1 billion.