The week that was: 13 May 2011
Union deal struck in US, but not Canada, whilst DHL invests in new aircraft… Welcome to ‘the week that was’. The weekend is almost here, so let’s delve in and catch up with the biggest stories from the last seven days.
The world’s largest postal union has ratified a new 4.5-year collective bargaining agreement with the US Postal Service. Almost three times as many members of the American Postal Workers Union were in favour of the labour deal as against, despite pressure from some quarters to vote against the contract – not least from past APWU president William Burrus. More than 50% of the APWU membership returned their postal ballots by Tuesday’s deadline, with counting today revealing 69,451 in favour and 22,351 against. The new agreement, which took months to negotiate after the last agreement ran out in November, is set to run until May 20, 2015. The deal includes a number of changes to working arrangements designed to help with the USPS financial difficulties. An agreed 3.5% wage rise and cost of living adjustments are set to be deferred two years to give the Postal Service breathing space in its cash flow, while new employees at the Postal Service will start on lower wage grades. It also allows the Postal Service more flexibility in how full-time workers are used, and more scope to use part-time and temporary workers, who can be sent home when not needed, in order to keep down staff costs. However, for the union members the contract also means protecting their jobs, bringing some outsourced work back in-house and limiting the practice of “excessing” – where workers are redeployed in different crafts or in locations far from their homes. APWU president Cliff Guffey said today that the contract was an “important achievement”. He added: “We were able to retain protection against layoffs, bring back thousands of jobs in each craft, and limit excessing.”
However, across the border no such deal has been struck, with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers still locked in talks with Canada Post regarding its next collective bargaining agreement, with the conciliation process turning into a mediation process last week. This week there has been some movement on the issues from management, according to the union, but time is still ticking along towards the prospect of strike action from May 25.
DHL Express has invested in new aircraft as it looks to modernise its European air fleet. In a bid to increase “efficiency and reduce emissions”, the operator purchased 13 Airbus A300-600 passenger planes. These aircraft will be converted to freighter configuration by EADS Elbe Flugzeugwerke in Dresden, Germany. DHL Express confirmed that the converted planes will be integrated fully into its European network by early 2013, replacing the older A300B4-200 model, which is reaching retirement age. Bryan Jamison, managing director network operations, Europe, DHL Express, said: “The A300-600 is a very attractive mid-range aircraft and the perfect fit for our European air network. By introducing this aircraft now we can ensure continuously high reliability and on-time performance for the years to come, while we are also able to take a big leap ahead towards our goal of reducing our carbon emissions by 30% by 2020.” DHL Express said it will benefit from the modern technology offered by the A300-600. The aircraft will be able to carry up to five tons more than its predecessor, whilst boasting a 900km longer range. It also uses 20% less fuel than the current model.
And finally…
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