Postal unions said early last week that they now accept post office workers will have to choose between pay cuts and maintaining employment levels, news agency ANP said. The unions set up their own investigation into the financial situation at TNT after union members voted against a preliminary agreement to cut pay levels in order to keep jobs. That deal would have given delivery staff a three-year job guarantee in return for pay cuts of up to 15%. Without the pay cut, TNT said thousands of delivery jobs would go. TNT is facing increasing competition from email and other delivery firms which pay their staff as freelancers. The entire Dutch postal market has been open to competition since 1 April. The unions will now ask their members to choose one of two alternatives: to keep current pay levels and cut jobs, or cut pay and reduce the number of job losses.