TNT accused of bullying workforce

10th Mar 09 : POSTMAN

Hmmm TNT are at it again,word is they're threatening to sack 10,000 workers in the Netherlands if they do not accept between 5-15% pay cuts.

TNT are promising not to make any compulsory redundancies for three years but only if workers take the cut.

Bernard de Vries, chairman of the TNT Works Council, which liaises between unions and the TNT management, said the pay cut was necessary to safeguard jobs as profits fall, but admitted that workers were angry. "It's kind of blackmail," he said "I can understand that."

A spokeswoman for TNT declined to say whether the group would use similar tactics to cut British postal workers' pay if it bought a 30% stake in Royal Mail.

The three-year pay offer involves most workers taking a 5%-15% pay cut in the first year, followed by a 1% rise for each of the next two years.

During an initial period, TNT Post will make up its employees' wages to 95 percent of their present level. The older the employee, the longer the transition phase will last. The deal includes a guarantee that there will be no job losses during the first three years.

CWU

A spokeswoman for the CWU described the deal as "bullying tactics from an aggressive employer".

"It's time the UK government threw out TNT as their company of choice and scrap their unpopular attempt to privatise Royal Mail," she said. "TNT are showing their true colors and are clearly driving down the terms and conditions of low-paid postal workers. We do not want the British postal industry to go the same way."

All of our readers can see the original news article we have on this in our 'open' Royal Mail Privatisation forum...

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