Dutch post workers on 24-hour strike over job cuts

AMSTERDAM

Dutch postal workers are staging a 24-hour strike to protest plans by post and express mail company TNT NV to slash thousands of jobs.

TNT, once a monopoly in the Netherlands, has been saying since 2007 it must cut thousands of jobs to remain competitive after the Dutch mail market was opened to competition from Germany's Deutsche Post and others.

Unions had initially voted to accept job cuts rather than pay cuts, but when confronted with company plans to cut 11,000 positions, worker-management relations deteriorated. TNT employs around 37,000 at its mail arm.

Unions called Tuesday's strike after rejecting a compromise proposal of 3,400 forced layoffs.

In the third quarter, TNT's mail operations reported operating income down 31 percent to euro78 million ($106.28 million).