DHL workers launch ‘respect for employees’ campaign

Over the past year, workers at Deutsche Post DHL have stepped up their activities in demand of better working conditions and trade union recognition at the company’s various international locations. The activities have included a ‘campaign for respect’ and a global week of action, which have resulted in meetings taking place with senior DHL management. The activities point to the increased use of modern technologies in campaigns targeting global players.

DHL workers’ protest

On 9 June 2009, members of the European Works Council (EWC) at Deutsche Post DHL raised concerns with management over employee relations within DHL. At the meeting, EWC delegates presented a banner requesting that Deutsche Post DHL ‘pay respect to their employees’. The initiative marked the beginning of a number of activities organised by DHL workers and their respective trade unions in 2009.

Initiated by the DHL Workers’ Network, which was set up by the International Transport Federation (ITF) and Union Network International (UNI) in February 2009, the campaign is an ironic play on words regarding the Deutsche Post DHL 2015 Strategy, which was launched by the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Frank Appel, at the beginning of 2009. A central aspect of the 2015 strategy involves what the company refers to as ‘respect and results’. A key element of ‘respect and results’ concerns a management leadership which aims to ‘drastically increase the involvement and engagement of employees’.

Concerns over working conditions and trade union recognition

Central to the campaign is the demand that DHL ‘engage in meaningful dialogue with workers’ trade unions so that the company recognises union rights and workers’ rights’. DHL employs half a million workers in over 18,000 locations worldwide. Employee representatives claim that, in some countries, local management violates the rights of DHL employees. A court in South Africa, for example, has ruled on three separate occasions that DHL has wrongfully dismissed trade union stewards. In India, employers were sacked for trying to set up a trade union – in this case, the court once again ruled against Deutsche Post DHL.

Elsewhere, Deutsche Post DHL has had to contend with bad publicity surrounding job losses in Belgium, as well as working conditions at its new modern hub in Leipzig in eastern Germany. Opened in 2008, and able to oversee the shipment of 2,000 tonnes of freight, DHL’s global hub in Leipzig is accused of practising social dumping. According to the ‘respect for employees’ campaign, salaries are so low in Leipzig that some employees have been forced to seek income support.

In addition, DHL’s decision to move its European headquarters from Brussels to Germany and the Czech Republic is expected to result in 788 job losses, according to Belgian trade unions. Moreover, workers in Belgium claim that such decisions have been taken without adhering to consultation procedures, specifically recognising the trade unions that represent employees affected by restructuring. As a means of countering such concerns, the campaign demands:

• respect for workers, as they are the people who deliver the results;

• respect for trade unions, as they are the workers’ collective voice worldwide;

• respect for the value of global agreements, which are the true contract for global companies.

Global week of action

So far, the highlight of the DHL ‘campaign for respect’ has been a global week of action between 9 and 13 November 2009. This saw ITF, UNI, the national trade unions and the DHL EWC organise a series of events throughout the world. These included workplace meetings, talks with local management and the issuing of letters to Deutsche Post DHL’s CEO, Mr Appel.

The campaign involved a demonstration in front of the Post Tower in Bonn in western Germany on 11 November, which was organised by Germany’s United Services Union (Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft, ver.di) and the EWC. As part of the protest, the demonstrators distributed leaflets in front of the headquarters and met the national press. The President of the EWC, Elmar Kallfelz, stated that ‘such violations are an issue in European countries as well, especially in eastern Europe. DHL does not contact workers’ representatives early enough to avoid lay offs in times of crisis’.

In a letter sent by the EWC to the board of Deutsche Post DHL, the EWC called on management, in this period of economic uncertainty, ‘to respect their [employees’] interests since they, the employees, have made DP DHL successful. In this situation, they hope that management in all of the countries will fulfil their obligations as a company and not only endure the crisis at the expense of the employees’.

According to its organisers, the campaign is having the intended impact. So far, three meetings have taken place with senior DHL management. At these meetings, a specific focus has been placed on the implications of the economic crisis on workers and trade unions within DHL. In addition, the company appears to be reacting in a positive way to some of the criticisms. For example, in Belgium, it now recognises the recently formed works council and has agreed to enter into discussions with the trade union representing the workforce.

Commentary

Although this campaign focuses specifically on DHL, it may signal a strategy that organised labour will apply to other global players. Workers at UPS, FEDEX and TNT, for example, have been encouraged by ITF and UNI to visit the various blogs and websites linked to the campaign. Clearly, the high degree of global transparency allowed by modern technology would appear to encourage such campaigns.

Michael Whittall, Technical University Munich