News

Ver.di, UNI and the ITF met the German press today in Bonn and rolled out the message that workers at Deutsche Post DHL are demanding respect as they start a week of actions around the world to call for a global agreement to protect workers’ rights and highlight some of the abuses they face on the job.



A new report, which was unveiled to the press in Bonn and which was compiled by ITF and UNI Global Union, reveals some of the company’s commonly reported tactics to intimidate workers fighting for decent work and the right to unionise. These are alleged to include unjust sackings, harassment and discrimination, problems with subcontracted employees, instances of bad faith from the company and the use of lie detectors. It appears that union members are frequently the targets of these actions. The report includes stories from Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and the USA.



Deutsche Post DHL claims it respects trade union and workers’ rights, but evidence from around the world suggests otherwise. Ver.di's Andrea Kocsis said that all global delivery companies operating in Germany should respect workers rights and extend those rights to anywhere they operate in the world by signing a global agreement with the two Global Unions.



For UNI Global Union, Christy Hoffman, Deputy General Secretary, told the press; "A Global Framework Agreement contributes to workers well being and the company's accountability and risk management. While DHL might claim they have a Social Charter that gives rights, our research which has been presented here today shows they need a proper agreement which allows their workers to be satisfied that this is monitored and strictly enforced. Only a GFA will give us that assurance."



Completing the trio of presenters to the press, Ingo Marowsky, the ITF's Organising Globally Coordinator said; "the DHL CEO Dr Appel needs to understand that he cannot treat the 200,000 workers worldwide any different than the 280,000 German workers who currently enjoy these rights."



Also at the press event was Marco Sala from DHL Italy who represented one of the stories from the report on DHL's use of subcontractors and how those subcontractors do not respect proper social standards. Marco says that hundreds of workers in Italy are allegedly used by DHL through subcontractors’ cooperatives to make deliveries by road under illegal contracts. "The union has to force the companies to respect the law, because the laws are not strong enough to protect workers!



View UNI and ITF's press release at; http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/sec_20081016_gbkmEn