* Unions call further strikes for Nov. 25-26
* Strikes seen hampering restructuring of mail unit
(Adds further strikes called)
AMSTERDAM, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Delivery staff at Dutch mail and express group TNT held on Tuesday the first nationwide postal strike since 1983 over job cuts and announced more walkouts that could hamper restructuring of its mail unit.
Last week TNT rejected what it called "irresponsible" union demands saying it could not reduce the number of forced layoffs any further, and prompting unions to push ahead with industrial action.
Postal workers walked out at 2200 GMT on Monday and unions said about 8,000 TNT employees protested in The Hague, around the Economic Affairs Ministry, and at a TNT corporate site as part of the 24-hour strike.
Further strikes are planned for Nov. 25-26, Dutch news agency ANP reported, citing the union.
The rise of electronic communication has forced mail operators across Europe to streamline operations, and TNT is also planning to separate its express and mail units as it prepares the latter for a possible sale.
Europe's second-largest mail and delivery company wants to cut 11,000 jobs. The company said in the summer that this could include 4,500 compulsory redundancies then offered to reduce that number by 1,400, which unions rejected.
Unions have called for TNT -- which sees restructuring of its mail unit as crucial for profitability -- to further reduce the layoffs and slow the pace of restructuring.
But TNT said this was unfeasible and warned that industrial action would only exacerbate the loss of business to its competitors and accelerate the decline in postal volume.
"I understand that a strike is an expression of anger and powerlessness, but unfortunately a strike does nothing to change the declining mail volume," Harry Koorstra, managing director of TNT's mail division said in a letter to staff last week that was subsequently published in national newspapers. (Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block; Editing by Sara Webb and David Hulmes)