Netherlands - Unions angry at size of TNT job losses June 28, 2010

The unions organising postal workers have said to be shocked that so many delivery workers are to lose their jobs in a major shake-up of TNT services. All 15,000 delivery workers who work over 25 hours a week may face dismissal and 11,000 jobs may be lost, as TNT argues to have to head off competition from budget delivery firms like Sandd. Earlier this year, union members rejected a management jobs guarantee in return for 15% pay cuts, and agreed to accept job losses instead. Yet, a spokesperson of the AbvaKabo FNV said, “We had expected this to affect 11,000 delivery workers and that between 4,000 and 5,000 would lose their jobs.” CNV Publieke Zaak union spokeswoman Inge Bakker stated: “If our members ask us to strike, we will of course think about doing that.” While unions have placed hope on a planned parliamentary debate about workplace conditions at TNT, Bakker acknowledged there were few options left.

English: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/06/post_unions_angry ...;

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE65R1MP20100628  

Dutch: De Volkskrant, May 28, 2010; NRC-Handelsblad, May 28, 2010

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.