TNT Post threatens actions
The works council at TNT Post is threatening to block competitors’ locations with its trucks if Parliament does not agree to approve better labour conditions for postal workers on Tuesday.
The works council wants Parliament to adopt a motion from Ferd Crone (Labour PvdA) and Cynthia Ortega (ChristenUnie) on Tuesday, but it does not look so far as if the motion will get majority support.
State secretary for economic affairs Frank Heemskerk doesn’t think that better labour conditions should be provided for in the Post Office Act, as the motion on Tuesday proposes, but that unions and postal companies should be able to agree on conditions in negotiations.
Postal workers’ union BVPP warns Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende that failure to guarantee labour conditions for this group will lead to great social unrest.
The union fears that greater competition among postal companies, which will result if the Post Office Act is adopted, will lead to poor labour conditions for postal workers. Already over the past years many have been forced to agree to payment on the basis of pieces of post delivered rather than an hourly rate.
The amendment from PvdA and ChristenUnie would make it possible to force postal companies to pay an hourly wage if they fail to improve labour conditions.
