2009 week 28
TNT in the media - week 28
TNT staff ranks job security top priority
7 July 2009
TNT Post's management and the Operations Works Council conducted a survey on its 23,000 operational staff and found out that job security was their number one priority, which they were willing to forfeit better working conditions for.
The results showed that 74% of the 7,683 respondents would rather forfeit working conditions in return for a job guarantee and/or a package of transitional measures, TNT said.
The survey results gave TNT and the Works Council an insight into the views of the companies' operations staff including suggestions and comments on the willingness of staff to surrender working conditions in return for job security.
The information from the survey on the company's operations staff will be examined in greater detail and taken into account when deciding on the next steps to be taken, the company said.
Over the last two years, intensive talks have been held with stakeholders on how to achieve the necessary cost savings to ensure TNT Post's profit margins remain healthy. As well as introducing a range of efficiency measures, discussions have also focused on forfeiting pay and benefits and accelerated restructuring leading to the loss of 11,000 jobs over the next three years, said TNT.
The company said in May the volume of letters and small packages delivered within the Netherlands fell 4.7% in the first quarter and that the drop could further accelerate.
Ernst Moeksis, a spokesman at Hoofddorp-based TNT told media sources that TNT previously announced plans to cut jobs because of the annual decline of volume in the mail industry.
Moeksis said TNT has agreed with the unions to resume negotiations after the summer about cost-reduction alternatives, but its Netherlands operations staff are reportedly bracing themselves for the possible arrival of 11,000 pink slips, in response to falling mail volumes.
The looming job cuts expected at TNT will not have any implications in Asia Pacific as the company's postal unit does not operate in the region, TNT said.
Source: Procurement online, www.procurement-online.com