Talks on a new pay and conditions agreement for postal delivery workers broke down earlier this week, opening the way for all 30,000 workers to be given a proper contract – even those working for budget firms, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

The bizarre twist stems from the conditions slapped on budget firms such as Sandd and Selekt Mail when delivery was fully opened up to competition in July 2008.
In that agreement, which was signed by ministers, unions and employers, Sandd and Selekt committed themselves to formally employing at least 10% of their delivery workers by April 2010 and 80% by 2012. But so far they have fallen far short of reaching that.
Walking speed
At the moment, most budget postal firm staff are paid per item of post they deliver, so they earn around €6 a hour, depending on how fast they walk. They are not members of the pension scheme or entitled to sick pay and holiday pay.
The companies argue formal employment contracts would make them go bankrupt, and want to renegotiate the deal.
According to the Volkskrant, if no deal is sealed by the end of the year, all delivery workers will automatically fall under the general pay and conditions agreement for the sector. This means they must be given a permanent contract and earn at least the minimum wage – which is just under €8 an hour.
Protection
The government built that mechanism into the liberalisation process in order to make sure delivery workers did not bear the brunt of the effects of privatisation, the paper says.
‘The budget firms say they cannot afford to employ staff because of the prices they charge,’ union spokesman Egon Groen told the paper. ‘But they are the ones competing on tariffs.’
The employers say they are planning to take legal action to break the contract.