News

At last ABVAKABO FNV, other trade unions and TNT on 23 May 2008 reached an agreement in principle on a new one-year collective labour agreement. The agreement will come into force with retroactive effect to 1 April 2008 and will apply to all TNT employees in the Netherlands.



All together it lasted a whole year to get to this agreement. It started with a presentation of drastic saving plans, with job cuts, freezing wages for 2.5 years and a list of lowering labour conditions. Our union members rejected massively the plans of the company. A lot has been done last year: several researches to necessity and alternatives. A collective social agreement was reached and the collective labour agreement was extended for a 6 months with a € 525 once-only payment. TNT needed very long time tot think about alternative plans instead of the company plans. The alternative plans were made by a study group, with a better perspective for the employees, but also disadvantages. With pressure of its members ABVAKABO FNV demanded a 3½ percent of salary rise on 1 April 2008 and no lowering labour conditions. TNT was only prepared offering a poor salary rise, but only on account of lowering labour conditions.

The negotiations reached a deadlock and it was time to strike. The willingness to strike was enormous. ‘With only that support of our members we could reach this new one-year collective labour agreement’ mentions Anneke Stevens, negotiator on behalf of ABVAKABO FNV, ‘but with this agreement the problems are not solved yet. Coming months we have to learn to know the advantages en disadvantages of the alternative plans and are able tot discuss them with our members. After that we can make our proposals to amend the alternative plans and to proper transitional arrangements.’ This new one year collective labour agreement puts an end to the planned industrial action.

The key arrangements are as follows:

• All employees will receive a salary rise in the form of a structural increase of 3% with retroactive effect to 1 April 2008, plus 0.5% in the form of a monthly payment until 1 April 2009;
  
• The monthly payment of 0.5% will become a structural increase with retroactive effect to 1 April 2008 if a consensus is reached by no later than 1 April 2009 on the following:
  • an Operations collective labour agreement for employees in scales 1 to 4 at TNT Post’s Operations business unit
    
  • market-level terms and conditions of employment for Operations, Marketing & Sales and the policy and support units for employees who do not fall under the planned collective labour agreement for Operations
    
  • market-level terms and conditions of employment for the employees of TNT Post Parcel Service, including the Transport unit
    
  • a separate collective labour agreement for Express, TNT Head Office, Spring, Cendris and European Mail Networks (EMN) ^
    
  • the monthly payment will lapse if no agreement is reached by 31 March 2009
    
  • The agreement running until 1 April 2009 will not include any form of retrenchment in the terms and conditions of employment.

The Operations collective labour agreement will be established in open and realistic negotiations. Therefore the -25 is not leading any more. This agreement will apply to existing and new employees, with the proviso that agreement is reached by no later than 31 March 2009 on the conditions under which this will occur. The level of this agreement will be substantially lower than that of the current collective labour agreement for TNT.

An appropriate package of measures will be arranged for existing employees to compensate the difference in terms and conditions of employment, taking into account the differences between employees in terms of their opportunities in the labour market.