The postal strike at PostNL has widened leaving thousands of parcels undelivered.

The strike, which began on Monday in Amsterdam, is now affecting Katwijk, Utrecht, Zaandam and Wateringen.

The freelance delivery workers are protesting about the lowering of the tariff for each delivered parcel. PostNL says it is logical the tariff will gradually fall as the number of internet sales, and therefore the number of parcels, increases.

The workers say their treatment is lacking in respect and they are not being treated as independent entrepreneurs. ‘In addition, PostNL is gradually whittling away the conditions under which they work,’ Egon Groen of the FNV Bondgenoten union told the Nos.

The freelance postal workers are not members of the union but Groen wants to help them. He will represent them later on Thursday in negotiations with PostNL.