TNT Post offers to cut redundancies by a third

TNT Post has offered to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies in its restructure ‘masterplan’ by 1,400, in response to appeals from union representatives. The offer marks a reduction of

In addition to the reduced number of redundancies, the company has told unions it will also bepossible to offer a further 200 people work temporarily, until the end of 2012.

Managers began meeting with staff representatives last week in order to discuss different waysof limiting the number of compulsory redundancies to below the 4,500 it had suggested last month,in response to a letter of concern from union leaders, sent on 7 September. Discussions with thecompany’s Works Council led to a focus on each of the different entities within the organisation,and whether roles could be reorganised in order to save jobs.

A spokesman told CEP-Research: “For example, we examined whether a person that did one piece ofwork on some days could combine that with another function, in order to create a full-timeposition.”

One important part of the reduction in redundancies was the creation of jobs within the new “Auto Unit” and restrictions on the amount of work contracted out by this unit over the next fewyears, the company added. This unit has responsibility for transporting mail, in vans, from sixcentral sorting centres to small neighbourhood hubs. Although largely outsourced, TNT Post retaineda limited number of its own drivers for this function.

Talks with the Works Council had also identified additional opportunities within TNT Post’sdomestic parcels service, TNT Post Parcel Service – which had seen demand growing due to internetretail trading, the spokesman added.

He said TNT Post was optimistic that this latest proposal would be accepted by staff. “We feelit is a very reasonable offer,” he told CEP-Research.

The company said unions and the Works Council had already indicated that they realised TNT Postwould be forced to make major cost savings within the short term.

“Reducing the number of involuntary redundancies does not make the main thrust of the impendingreorganisation any less necessary, however,” TNT Post added. “The declining postal market andincreasing price pressure due to competition make it unavoidable for TNT Post to speed up thechanges.”

The Dutch mail operator revealed plans last month to reduce its full-time workforce by 11,000people by the end of 2012 or early 2013, in response to declining mail volumes and other changes inthe market. Of the 11,000, it said 6,500 mail staff were expected to leave the company throughnatural attrition and the help of the company’s ‘mobility’ programme, which would provide help withfinding other jobs.

While it was still awaiting the unions’ response, TNT Post said it considered that its latestoffer represented “a substantial step, in combination with the social plan already agreed on withthe unions”. It said the social plan comprised a range of ways of helping surplus employees findwork outside TNT Post.

“It also provides for targeted training programmes and makes it possible for employees bornbefore 1952 to keep their job,” the company added.

However, it said the basic aims of its reorganisation ‘master plan’ – to make savings totalling€430 million for the period 2010-2017 – remain unchanged, and that some compulsory redundancieswere inevitable.

“The company finds itself faced by competitors that are able to strengthen their market positionon the basis of piecework and the absence of a collective labour agreement,” it said. “When thedecision was taken to liberalise the postal market in 2009, the Dutch authorities set theprecondition that there should be proper terms and conditions of employment. So far, however, theauthorities have been unable to compel the new postal companies to provide such terms andconditions.”