They will launch a white paper entitled Corporate Irresponsibility, Deutsche Post DHL’s Global Labour Practices Exposed, which exposes what it describes as a "shameful track record of union avoidance outside of Europe and overuse of temporary or agency workers". Shareholders are being urged to help "clean up" the logistics multinational, and ensure that high standards are met throughout its operations.
UNI Global Union and the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) says its research shows "widespread and systematic abuses regarding freedom of association and precarious work". In country after country workers, it says, are fearful of retaliation if they try to organise a union. In many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia and India, subcontracted workers have been paid substantially less than regular workers while doing exactly the same work, claims the report.
In a release, the organisations say: "In Colombia, Costa Rica and South Africa, the company has forced workers to submit to lie detector tests in spite of the company’s initial position that it did not tolerate the use of such tests. The company has also been fined substantial amounts of money for health and safety violations, notably earlier this year in the US where DP-DHL subsidiary Exel has been fined almost $300,000.
"These labour rights violations directly contradict DP-DHL’s own corporate responsibility policies and its commitment to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which it signed in 2006.
"The report provides a whole raft of evidence holding the company to account and demanding it meet its aspirations as a responsible enterprise in every country where it operates, not just in its home base, Germany."
The campaign is being supported by the 175-million member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The unions will be raising the concerns detailed in the new publication with Deutsche Post DHL (DP-DHL) at its AGM in Frankfurt today. Present at the shareholders’ meeting will also be Monica Okpe, a Norwegian DHL worker who recently won reinstatement after being illegally sacked for her trade union work. As well as targeting the company’s leadership, the unions will also seek to persuade shareholders that this is an issue for them too, and have written to them to say:
"We find it unbelievable that a company of Deutsche Post DHL’s size and aspirations can find itself unable to put a figure to the number of agency workers it uses, even though many of them are on poverty wages and are being put at risk of injury and death. We find it unacceptable that DHL workers have suffered intimidation, bullying and worse, and that the company can’t even get its facts straight on the use of lie detectors against staff."
The new report – available at www.respectatdhl.org – investigates the company’s record on labour rights and treatment of workers across the globe. Philip Jennings, UNI Global Union general secretary, commented: “If I were a shareholder, I would be asking some serious questions at the meeting. DHL’s global practices are a definite risk to the company’s ethics, reputation and image. This new report shows a shopping list of labour violations. DHL clearly needs to address these concerns if it is to be seen as an ethical and responsible global operator.”
ITF general secretary David Cockroft stated: “At its best, this company is very good indeed. At its worst, it is racking up fines, allowing shameful abuses such as the use of lie detector tests and intimidation against innocent workers, and using workers employed on the cheap and with inadequate protection. Yet the high corporate responsibility ideals it aspires to are almost within its reach. It just needs to guarantee a decent standard of treatment for all its workers, not just some.”
Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation), added: “DP-DHL’s corporate social responsibility mechanisms are failing. We would strongly advise them to do what their workers want, which is to engage in discussions about negotiating a global framework agreement that would set baseline standards for all the company’s personnel, and enable them and management to move ahead together to make DP-DHL even more successful.”
UNI Global Union and the ITF have been encouraging DHL to sign a global framework agreement, designed to ensure that the company respects the same core rights of its employees in every country in which it operates. The unions’ concerns will also be raised in a leaflet they will be handing out to shareholders arriving at the AGM.
