TNT Post has agreed to reduce the number of redundancies it makes in its forthcomingrestructuring programme, in response to representations by trade unions.
The company said it was meeting with union representatives today in order to discuss differentways of achieving its necessary restructuring targets and limiting the number of compulsoryredundancies to below the 4,500 it had suggested last month. But it insisted the ‘Master Plan’already announced to make savings totalling €430 million for the period 2010-2017 remain unchanged,and that some compulsory redundancies were inevitable.
TNT said it would provide a comprehensive response today to a letter sent by the unions on 7September, and said it believed its proposals met the request made by the unions for significantlyreducing the 4,500 compulsory redundancies. It said the letter from the unions recognised that TNTPost was forced to start making considerable cost savings.
“The proposals made by the unions for reducing the number of compulsory redundancies have beenevaluated by TNT Post,” the company said. “TNT Post is prepared to meet the unions on importantpoints in order to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies of 4,500. The exact result willdepend on consultations with the works council, which are already underway. During theseconsultations, details of the reorganisation plans are being discussed.”
It said the company expected to be able to round off the talks with the works council “in thenear future” and was prepared to amend elements of its plans.
“This does not affect the fact that the chosen path is fixed and that the implementation ofchanges is unavoidable, however painful this may be for the large group of employees who haveloyally served the company for many years and who are still actively delivering mail to the rightaddress every day,” TNT Post added.
It said the changes to the Postal Act and in the mail market had not arrived overnight, and thatTNT Post had been consulting with the works council and the unions for many years regarding thechanges in the mail market and the consequences of these changes for its employees.
“Given the increasing reduction in volumes and the unrelenting pressure on prices as a resultof substitution and competition, TNT Post believes that we now must stride ahead,” the companysaid. “TNT Post’s aim is to clarify matters for all of our employees this month and to do so inconsultation with both the unions and the works council.
The Dutch mail operator early last month revealed plans to reduce its full-time workforce by11,000 people by the end of 2012 or early 2013. Of the 11,000, it said 6,500 mail staff wereexpected to leave the company through natural attrition and the help of the company’s ‘Mobility’programme, which would provide help with finding other jobs.
One aim of the restructure is to create more flexibility in the organisation by increasingthe proportion of part-time staff, so that it can cope more efficiently with operational peaks andtroughs. Currently it has around 13,000 part-time mail delivery workers, a figure it hopes toincrease to around 35,000 by 2013, a source at the company recently told CEP-Research.
Since mid-2006, more than 4,800 people have already voluntarily left the postal business throughthe TNT Mobility programme. The company currently has about 40,000 employees.
The restructuring is taking place against the background of the full separation of TNT Post andTNT Express. The group has said that it will consider various options for the future of the mailand express businesses, including flotation on the stock exchange.
