Unions Alert TNT Logistics Customers About Potential Impact of Pending Sale on Customer Liability
22 Août 2006 - 12:36AM
PR Newswire (US)
Australian Unions Cite TNT's Lobbying Against Safe Transport Rates
as Possible Cause of Labor Concern, Customer Liability SYDNEY,
Australia, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Transport Workers Union
(TWU) supported by the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU)
in the United Kingdom, will launch a public relations campaign
aimed at customers of TNT Logistics only days before its sale by
Dutch parent, TNT NV (Amsterdam: TNT.AS) (NYSE:TP). The two unions
will warn TNT Logistics customers about the impact on quality and
service -- and resulting liability risks for customers -- that
could result if TNT continues to refuse to meet with national
unions representing employees and if TNT succeeds in its recent
attempts to persuade the Australian Senate to reverse longstanding,
industry- supported safe transport rate laws. Both TWU research and
independent experts have shown that the laws foster safe working
systems and lower highway accident risks. Union leaders said that
member frustrations could easily boil over if the company continues
to undermine stable industrial relations in the run up to and
beyond the sale. The company has refused to consult with its unions
in the UK and elsewhere about the sale of Logistics Operations and
the impact it could have on safe operating systems and job security
as well as on pay, pensions and other key conditions of employment.
Australia and the UK represent about 23 percent of TNT Logistics'
net sales. Union leaders emphasize that the Logistics sale is just
one example of the Company's ongoing pattern of refusing to enter
into any meaningful consultation and/or negotiation with its
employee unions. In an Australian Senate inquiry last week, TNT
testified in support of amending legislation to strip protections
for Australian transport workers, including eliminating minimum
rates of pay. Earlier this year, the Australian Government
effectively acknowledged that such minimum rates are an essential
factor in ensuring safe work practices in the transport sector.
Australian government studies such as the Quinlan Report show that
there is an established link between pay rates and driver
exhaustion, increased accidents, and inadequate driver training.
Thus, union leaders said, safety for all Australian road users is
endangered by TNT's stance. Tony Sheldon, TWU National Secretary,
said, "TNT is wavering in its commitment to maintain current pay
and working conditions by lobbying for unsafe rates for transport
workers in Australia. Cutting rates not only endangers drivers but
threatens the public's safety as well. 152 people have died in
heavy vehicle accidents in Australia in 2005 alone. Slashing
transport pay can only make our roads more deadly." Sheldon said,
"TNT's decision to abolish cost-recovery minimum standards has
generated a lot of ill-will among its employees. Under Australian
and NSW state 'chain of responsibility' regulations, TNT's support
of unsafe wages could actually increase customer liability. If
TNT's political shenanigans could potentially place its customers
in jeopardy, the TWU feels obliged to warn them." Steve Turner,
TGWU National Secretary for the Transport Sector, said, "We stand
in full support of our Australian colleagues. TNT's attack on safe
transport rates in Australia is simply a symptom of the Company's
general refusal to work constructively with employee unions.
Similar attacks could easily come in the UK and elsewhere as
deregulation and intense competition across the sector initiate a
'race to the bottom' in worker protection and other key negotiated
conditions. Our members' patience is nearly at an end. We have
offered TNT multiple opportunities for meaningful negotiations,
which must include consultation on safe working conditions and
operating practices. Nothing has come of it." Union representatives
from around the world condemned the company last month for refusing
to begin proper good faith negotiations on the future of the 36,000
workers in the soon-to-be-sold logistics division. Unions from more
than 20 countries, jointly coordinated by the International
Transport Workers Federation and Union Network International, have
proposed a global Guarantee of Workers Rights to protect the 36,000
employees whose jobs are up for sale. The TWU and the TGWU have
been working with other TNT unions including the Teamsters in the
U.S., and plan to reach out internationally to TNT's largest
clients and the wider trade union movement if necessary. "TNT's
blatant disregard for worker concerns is a global labor problem,
and the union response will be global as well," said Tim Beaty,
Director of Global Strategies for the Teamsters Strategic Research
and Campaigns Department. "The Teamsters are troubled by TNT's lack
of dialogue with our sister unions in the UK and Australia. TNT's
recent stance on Australian transport rates is particularly
outrageous given the Company's written assurance in June that it
was confident that current pay and conditions would be maintained."
The unions say they are not opposed to the sale but urge both TNT
and the prospective buyer to enter into meaningful talks with
unions on these issues and to make sure that the sale protects the
quality of service and the long- term interests of TNT Logistics
customers as well as workers. The unions believe that TNT's
agreeing to a proposed international set of minimum guarantees will
provide a stable framework for the sale and beyond. DATASOURCE:
Transport Workers Union of Australia CONTACT: Fiona Sugden of
Transport Workers Union of Australia, +0408 463 199 Web site:
http://www.twu.com.au/
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