Thousands of people who delivered post for Sandd will be out of work in the wake of the takeover by former Dutch state postal monopoly PostNL, broadcaster NOS said on Wednesday.

Fewer than half Sandd’s 16,000 workers will have a job at PostNL, even though there are hundreds of vacancies, the broadcaster said.

In particular, Sandd workers are unhappy at being asked to deliver post on more days than just Tuesday and Friday, and Saturday, when PostNL does deliver, is also a major issue, NOS said.

Sandd workers currently sort their mail at their own homes and can work between 7am and 9pm, allowing them to work during school hours only, for example. PostNL workers have stricter working times.

‘It is a tricky puzzle and we are trying to make everyone an appropriate offer,’ a PostNL spokesman told the broadcaster. At the time of the takeover PostNL said it would ‘offer to employ’ all Sandd workers.

Sandd drivers, office workers and sorting office staff are also finding it difficult to get a replacement job. For example, the 500 people who currently work at the Sandd headquarters and sorting offices in Apeldoorn have been told they will need to travel to The Hague for work.

NOS did not say how many of the Sandd workers are officially self-employed.

Merger

PostNL and Sandd agreed to merge last year, and the takeover was initially rejected by the Dutch competition authority, but later approved by the economic affairs ministry.

PostNL currently controls some 70% of the Dutch postal market and Sandd virtually all the rest – primarily business deliveries.

In October, social affairs ministry inspectors fined Sandd €289,000 following a complaint from 28 workers about being underpaid.