DUTCH Deliveroo riders have warned of more action after their New Year’s Day strike against new the company’s new “freelance” status for its delivery workers, unions said today.

The Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) said about 80 delivery staff in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Haarlem walked out yesterday and joined a protest at Haarlem’s central Grote Markt square.

They demanded that the British-based transnational reverse its decision not to renew employment contracts after February 1 and instead move riders onto bogus self-employed or “gig economy” status.

FNV official Frederique Zebeda said Deliveroo had claimed on its website and mobile phone app that it was struggling to cope with a rush of orders, when in fact “their personnel have been with us in Haarlem at the Grote Markt.”

“Not only in Haarlem has Deliveroo had a tough time today,” she added. “At 5pm, Deliveroo was not able to provide services in Utrecht.”

One protester, 19-year-old delivery rider Lana van der Reijden, said she wanted to know: “Will I be paid when I am sick? Will I be insured if someone runs into me?

“I stand here because I don’t want some weak employment construction but normal working conditions such as those you would expect from an employer,” she said.

“The freelance model that Deliveroo is forcing on us is untenable.”

Ms Zebeda added: “We have made our demands clear to Deliveroo, but they have not been willing to agree to them.

“Our patience is up and they will have noticed that today. In Haarlem, Utrecht and Amsterdam, Deliveroo could not deliver.”