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According to DP DHL, « in the first half of the year, the MAIL Corporate Division reduced direct costs by 180 million Euros among others by taking measures to raise productivity. Additional savings are to be achieved in the second half of the year.”(see link belows for more information)



In order to achieve this, “Deutsche Post plans to increase the workweek to 40 hours from 38.5 hours currently without providing additional compensation and to delay a pay raise that was agreed on in a collective-bargaining agreement. In addition, starting pay for new workers is to be tied to the minimum wage. While striving to avoid layoffs, Deutsche Post aims to reduce its workforce over the mid term.”



Interviewed on the Deutsche Post DHL website, Jürgen Gerdes, Board Member at DP DHL responsible for Mail, mentioned that “the mail market in Germany is shrinking by around 2 percent each year, and digital communications are the primary reason for this. This is a challenge for all providers of mail-delivery services (..)”. “Regardless of the current economic crisis, the drop in delivery volumes in the mail business ultimately can't be stopped. It would be irresponsible to ignore this and simply wait. We have to act now and take the right steps to ensure that our employees continue to have secure jobs” continued Gerdes. “To do this, we need the support and understanding of employees and unions. This is particularly the case with painful but, in our view, necessary sacrifices such as longer workweeks or a delay of planned pay raises” he added.



Andrea Koscsis, deputy head of Ver.di reacted to Deutsche Post DHL’s plans in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 02.09.09. “The Post is not in a situation that it needs to be restructured”, she said, “We are not talking about Opel or Arcandor here, but about a company that has made a profit of 557 million Euros in the first half year of 2009.” "The post is trying to surf on the wave of the crisis and quickly cash in a contribution from employees”, she added.



More information on Deutsche Post DHL :

http://www.dp-dhl.de/dp-dhl?skin=lo&check=no&lang=de_EN&xmlFile=2010914

http://www.dp-dhl.de/dp-dhl?tab=1&skin=lo&check=no&lang=de_EN&xmlFile=2010911