Dutch TNT says up to 11,000 layoffs possible
Dutch mail company TNT NV said on Saturday it may have to lay off up to 11,000 workers due to rising competition in its home market, where the company is set to lose its remaining monopoly from next year.
The company said in April it will seek to freeze wages and cut up to 7,000 jobs to help lower costs by 300 million euros (USD 413 million) by 2015, but now seems to feel harsher measures will be needed to remain competitive.
“We may have to go as far as 10,000 or 11,000 redundancies,” Chief Executive Peter Bakker told Reuters in an interview.
Competitive pressures are rising in Europe. The European Parliament voted in June to delay until 2011 a plan to open its 88 billion euro postal market to full competition, a move that unions say will lead to job losses and diminished service quality in rural areas.
“There is a choice to aggressively cut costs and lay off a large number of people,” said Bakker, who was in Dalian, China for the World Economic Forum.
“Or ask existing employees to take a wage freeze over a number of years,” he said. “It’s a horrible choice to make.”
TNT is one of the Netherlands largest employers with about 59,000 staff
