Transport sector association TLN has cancelled pay talks planned for Tuesday because the meeting last week was ‘seriously disrupted’ by a large group of demonstrators.

The organisation has written to the FNV trade union federation stating it is ‘unacceptable to negotiate in this way’ and describing the demonstration as a ‘far-reaching form of intimidation’.

TLN also claims the demonstrators at one point forced their way into the room where the employers were meeting and that it ‘cannot guarantee the safety of its delegation’ if the talks resume.

The unions want a pay rise for the transport sector but the employers say there is no room to give one.

In a reaction, union officials said they would discuss TLN’s position with their members. ‘This shows little respect for people who are on the go day and night to transport goods,’ Tjitze van Rijssel of the CNV union federation said.