Threat to European jobs as DHL moves in on Airborne
Anxiety about job security is mounting among Airborne staff in Europe in the wake of DHL’s proposed acquisition of the company.
DHL would not confirm the scale of any redundancies if the deal gets the goahead from regulators. But at a meeting with senior management from both companies in London on 4 April, Airborne’s European managers expressed concern that many jobs would go and most Airborne offices in Europe would close.
The meeting was told that the acquisition was 90% certain to get past the authorities, and while the best staff would be retained, there could be no guarantee that any jobs were safe.
A source told IFW: “There is a lot of anxiety among Airborne staff in Europe.
“DHL is buying Airborne for its US presence, so everything outside that is seen as an added extra. Airborne’s express staff in the US expect to remain in the driving seat, but in Europe, Airborne staff see themselves as doubled-up with DHL and Danzas.” Airborne has its own offices and staff in the UK, France, Sweden and the Netherlands, while the rest of its European network is operated by agencies under the Airborne name.
Aspokeswoman for DHL said: “The Airborne deal is different from the Danzas/ DHL/Deutsche Post integration. It is a complementary network we are buying and is not about creating synergies from overlaps.” She declined to say what would happen where areas of overlap existed, and would not comment “on specific personnel issues while we are in the approval process”.
DHL has predicted it will see a 40% increase in profits by 2005 from its “value enhancement programme”, Star, under which Danzas, DHL and Deutsche Post’s Euro Express services are to be integrated.
Asked how this target would be achieved without significant job cuts, the spokeswoman said: “There are 100 projects under Star and we are looking at things like harmonising the network and products, developing global customer solutions.
“We are still in the process of creating a blueprint for this and will be able to talk more when this is completed in a couple of months.
“Star is really not about job cuts. It is about staff retention and there are programmes for matching staff to new positions.
“Should initiatives be taken within Star that lead to staff reductions, we would, of course, contact the unions and our other social partners.”
Posted: 14/04/2003
