TNT not afraid of financial repercussions if it freezes operations in Germany
Mail distribution company TNT NV said it is ‘not afraid’ of facing financial repercussions if it decides to freeze or perhaps even abandon current cooperation agreements with local mail distributors in Germany.
‘At the moment we have no calculation of any expected costs, but we’re not afraid of financial repercussions,’ a TNT spokesman told Thomson Financial News.
TNT said it may freeze or perhaps even abandon all current cooperation agreements it has signed with regional German mail distributors in light of proposed German legislation which would see a minimum wage imposed for postal workers.
TNT is ‘very much opposed’ to that government proposal as it would ‘destroy whatever level playing field is left for us in Germany — if at all,’ the TNT spokesman said.
‘It is very difficult for any company, such as ours, to pursue normal business in an area where there’s outright market protection going on,’ he added, referring to the German postal market.
Aside from the minimum wage for postal workers, which would also hit TNT’s competitors in the German market, TNT also wants the VAT exemption for Deutsche Post — its biggest rival — rescinded by the German government.
