Workers at TNT Post have gone on a three-day strike in a long-running dispute over the number ofcompulsory redundancies at the company as part of long-term cost savings measures.
Dutch mail sorting and delivery staff stopped working shortly before midnight last night(Tuesday) and will not go back to work until Friday evening, according to postal unions. Thestoppage follows strikes in November.
The strike is the latest move in the dispute between TNT Post and unions over the number ofcompulsory redundancies that will be needed in the future. The company wants to downsize theworkforce by 11,000 jobs, mostly through natural attrition, fluctuations, non-replacement, earlyretirements and similar measures. TNT Post, which expects a volume decline of 8-9% this year,aims to reduce operating costs by €430 million over the 2010-2017 period.
The company originally wanted to make 4,500 people redundant but scaled the figure back to 3,100in October. However, unions organised strikes last month to protest again this number whichthey said was still too high.
Yesterday, TNT Post offered to reduce the number further to 2,300 redundancies to try tostop this week’s strike but two of the three unions again rejected the new proposal. The AbvakaboFNV and CNV Publieke Zaak said they would go ahead with the strike announced for this week, whilethe BVPP said it would present the proposals to its members.
Outlining its proposals, TNT Post said it initially offered to extend the current collectiveagreement, which expires at the end of 2011, to the end of 2013. This would include a wage increaseof 0.5% in 2012 and 1% in 2013, while the original 3,100 compulsory redundancies would be broughtdown to 2,550 and another 300 employees would keep their jobs temporarily. But the CNV PubliekeZaak and Abvakabo FNV unions were not prepared to bring future collective agreements into thepicture when looking for a solution, according to the company.
TNT said it then presented a new proposal, offering to bring the number of compulsoryredundancies down from 3,100 to 2,800 by creating jobs at the new “Auto Unit” and through TNT PostParcel Service. The company also offered to increase the involvement of assisted reemploymentagency TNT Mobility so as to further minimise the number of employees needing to claim unemploymentbenefit, reducing this number to 500. Another 300 employees would keep their jobs temporarily.
“In spite of the fact that the unions have repeatedly endorsed the need for cost savingmeasures, we are disappointed to find that they have rejected all these proposals. This not onlymeans that the uncertainty among our employees will be drawn out even longer, it also means thatour customers are left in suspense during this most important December month, with all the ensuingconsequences,” TNT Post stated.
Abvakabo FNV director Peter Wiechmann criticised TNT Post for not doing enough to save jobs andclaimed that new jobs could be created at the growing TNT Post Parcel Service. CNV Publieke Zaaksaid the strikes would continue until the company further decreased the number of compulsoryredundancies.
