TNT and Netherlands unions agree CLA and social plan
TNT and Netherlands unions agree CLA and social plan
TNT and the unions (ABVAKABO and FNV) have reached an in-principle agreement on the collective labour agreement (CLA) and the social plan.
This agreement satisfies the starting points of the talks of both the trade unions and TNT Post. The TNT CLA will run from 1 April 2009 to 31 December 2011. All TNT employees in the Netherlands will receive a 0.7% pay rise as of 1 January 2010. A differentiation will be made from 1 April 2010 in the form of separate CLAs to be agreed for the entities TNT Post, TNT Express and TNT Post Parcel Service. A 1% rise has been agreed as of 1 January 2011 and 0.2% as of 1 October 2011 for the TNT Post entities (excluding TNT Post Parcel Service).
New negotiations will shortly commence on separate CLAs for TNT Express and TNT Post Parcel Service to take effect on 1 April 2010. TNT Post and the trade unions will also set up a joint working group to explore a future-proof pension scheme for TNT Post.
TNT Post is experiencing an annual volume decrease of around 6%, making far-reaching restructuring of the postal operations in the Netherlands a necessity. The starting point for the negotiations was the outcome of the referendum held by the trade unions whereby the union members favoured income above job retention. In the in-principle agreement and social plan now reached a good balance has been achieved between these two factors. The new social plan will apply until 31 December 2012.
The social plan focuses on stimulating voluntary redundancy, with an additional financial incentive for employees aged 50 years and older. Arrangements for compulsory redundancy centre on the size of the severance payout on termination of employment. This is based on the old “subdistrict court formula” with an adjustment factor of 0.8 and a mediation period of up to 12 months. Severance pay will be gradually reduced on the basis of a formula as the mediation period progresses. A special arrangement will apply to employees aged between 55 and 58 years. Those born before 1 January 1952 may be declared supernumerary but will not be dismissed. This social plan will enable TNT to mitigate the effects of the far-reaching reorganisations in a socially responsible way. The new CLA and the social plan form a key part of the previously announced Master Plans through which TNT Post will achieve annual savings of EUR 395m from 2015.
The unions have yet to present the CLA and the social plan to their members, and will be advising them to accept the agreement. The result of the member consultation will be known in mid-March.