The week that was: 26 September 2009
In the news this week:
Strikes, freighters and birthday greetings… Staff walkouts and proposed striking action across the globe dominated the news pages this week, with the Brazilians, the French, and the British all making the headlines.
By Friday, it seemed as if the Brazilian postal operator, Correios, had acquiesced with its workers, with a 9% pay increase heading-up an improved employee package.
No such luck across the Atlantic, where Royal Mail boss Adam Crozier hit out at unions during a live TV interview. The chief executive said: “In a nutshell what we have is a company that needs to modernise to survive and a union that, whilst on the face of it is saying it’s up for modernisation, is actually doing pretty much everything it can to frustrate those changes on the ground.”
Staying with modernisation … FedEx announce a new addition to its fleet, unveiling its first Boeing 777 Freighter, claiming it will make the shipping of goods faster and more environmentally efficient. Not to be outdone, DHL Express has launched a 767 freighter express service across the Atlantic.
Over to Asia now, and even before the new Japanese Prime Minister had the chance to have his new business cards printed, his government announced it could freeze the breakup and privatisation of its postal service, put in place by the previous administration.
And finally…
Frank Appel compares DHL’s conception to the moon landings, that (may have) happened only four months prior to the company’s formation 40 years ago.
No doubt that Deutsche Post DHL’s towers will be awash with birthday cake and party hats, with Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of ’69’ blaring out over the speakers!
