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Unions bury the hatchet with DHL
[ January 31, 2014 // Chris ]The UNI union and International Transport Workers Federation, the ITF say they have reached agreement with Deutsche Post-DHL over trade union recognition in a number of countries. Together with the OECD, they have issued a joint statement which they say addresses some key areas in dispute and aims to turns a page in UNI and the ITF’s relationship with DHL.
ITF and UNI filed a case to the German government in November 2012 alleging that DHL systematically denied workers their rights to freely join or organise trade unions of their choice, which was handled by the National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines, based in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs.
After a preliminary investigation, in June 2013, the NCP accepted the case in five countries and asked the parties to begin a mediation process.
In Turkey, over 1,600 workers at DHL Turkey Supply chain won the right to be represented by their union, TUMTIS.
The process has also led to an assessment of DHL’s industrial relations with unions in India and Colombia, and a path for bargaining with the union in Indonesia. The agreement calls for DHL to meet quarterly with the ITF and UNI and report to the NCP as part of the company’s due diligence process.