Union warns of slower deliveries by Deutsche Post
According to Ver.di, the German services sector union, Deutsche Post AG, the German postal service operator, is planning to slim down its night air mail network and transfer part of the mail to overland transport. According to the union, the company is prepared to accept that some deliveries may be slower, as the changes form part of a series of measures aimed at saving a nine-figure sum.
Ver.di has announced that it will organise protest action if, as feared, the company closes 1,000 branches and cuts 10,000 jobs without consulting the union. At the week-end, a company spokesman was reported by media sources to have indicated that the supervisory board had given the go-ahead for job cuts, but, a union leader on the supervisory board has rejected the rumour. Deutsche Post has also denied that its efficiency programme includes any general job cutting plan, and has assured that, under an agreement with Ver.di, redundancies are ruled out until the end of 2004.
Original article by Birger Nicolai
Abstracted from Die Welt
