SYDNEY, Australia, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Transport Workers Union (TWU) supported by the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) in the United Kingdom, will launch a public relations campaign aimed at customers of TNT Logistics only days before its sale by Dutch parent, TNT NV (Amsterdam: TNT.AS) . The two unions will warn TNT Logistics customers about the impact on quality and service -- and resulting liability risks for customers -- that could result if TNT continues to refuse to meet with national unions representing employees and if TNT succeeds in its recent attempts to persuade the Australian Senate to reverse longstanding, industry- supported safe transport rate laws. Both TWU research and independent experts have shown that the laws foster safe working systems and lower highway accident risks.
Union leaders said that member frustrations could easily boil over if the company continues to undermine stable industrial relations in the run up to and beyond the sale. The company has refused to consult with its unions in the UK and elsewhere about the sale of Logistics Operations and the impact it could have on safe operating systems and job security as well as on pay, pensions and other key conditions of employment. Australia and the UK represent about 23 percent of TNT Logistics' net sales. Union leaders emphasize that the Logistics sale is just one example of the Company's ongoing pattern of refusing to enter into any meaningful consultation and/or negotiation with its employee unions.
In an Australian Senate inquiry last week, TNT testified in support of amending legislation to strip protections for Australian transport workers, including eliminating minimum rates of pay. Earlier this year, the Australian Government effectively acknowledged that such minimum rates are an essential factor in ensuring safe work practices in the transport sector. Australian government studies such as the Quinlan Report show that there is an established link between pay rates and driver exhaustion, increased accidents, and inadequate driver training. Thus, union leaders said, safety for all Australian road users is endangered by TNT's stance.
Tony Sheldon, TWU National Secretary, said, "TNT is wavering in its commitment to maintain current pay and working conditions by lobbying for unsafe rates for transport workers in Australia. Cutting rates not only endangers drivers but threatens the public's safety as well. 152 people have died in heavy vehicle accidents in Australia in 2005 alone. Slashing transport pay can only make our roads more deadly."
Sheldon said, "TNT's decision to abolish cost-recovery minimum standards has generated a lot of ill-will among its employees. Under Australian and NSW state 'chain of responsibility' regulations, TNT's support of unsafe wages could actually increase customer liability. If TNT's political shenanigans could potentially place its customers in jeopardy, the TWU feels obliged to warn them."
Steve Turner, TGWU National Secretary for the Transport Sector, said, "We stand in full support of our Australian colleagues. TNT's attack on safe transport rates in Australia is simply a symptom of the Company's general refusal to work constructively with employee unions. Similar attacks could easily come in the UK and elsewhere as deregulation and intense competition across the sector initiate a 'race to the bottom' in worker protection and other key negotiated conditions. Our members' patience is nearly at an end. We have offered TNT multiple opportunities for meaningful negotiations, which must include consultation on safe working conditions and operating practices. Nothing has come of it."
Union representatives from around the world condemned the company last month for refusing to begin proper good faith negotiations on the future of the 36,000 workers in the soon-to-be-sold logistics division. Unions from more than 20 countries, jointly coordinated by the International Transport Workers Federation and Union Network International, have proposed a global Guarantee of Workers Rights to protect the 36,000 employees whose jobs are up for sale. The TWU and the TGWU have been working with other TNT unions including the Teamsters in the U.S., and plan to reach out internationally to TNT's largest clients and the wider trade union movement if necessary.
"TNT's blatant disregard for worker concerns is a global labor problem, and the union response will be global as well," said Tim Beaty, Director of Global Strategies for the Teamsters Strategic Research and Campaigns Department. "The Teamsters are troubled by TNT's lack of dialogue with our sister unions in the UK and Australia. TNT's recent stance on Australian transport rates is particularly outrageous given the Company's written assurance in June that it was confident that current pay and conditions would be maintained."
The unions say they are not opposed to the sale but urge both TNT and the prospective buyer to enter into meaningful talks with unions on these issues and to make sure that the sale protects the quality of service and the long- term interests of TNT Logistics customers as well as workers. The unions believe that TNT's agreeing to a proposed international set of minimum guarantees will provide a stable framework for the sale and beyond.
