The Ontime logistics company of the latest news says. More than 2,000 DHL logistics workers sorted and transported components for the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plant, and they provided “strong support” for the strike.
The strike will directly threaten car production at the West Midland JLR plant in Solihull, Castle Bromwich, Hams Hall and Midpoint, Tyrefort and Halewood, Merseyside.
The workers have rejected the sad 1.75% salary offer, covering the two and a half years starting in 2020 with a 96% profit margin. The RPI inflation rate has reached 6%.
Earlier this year, drivers and warehouse employees clashed with the company over abusing vacation payments for the job retention program.
DHL used a “flexible vacation” program during the pandemic, allowing companies to bring back employees who were on vacation on a part-time basis, but still receive part of the government’s salary. In August, there were reports that hundreds of workers were underpaid and owed as much as £800.
In the same month, Birmingham Live received the accounts of anonymous former employees of the DHL warehouse who cataloged the so-called “bullying culture”. One worker said: “We have been working throughout the pandemic. Because of us, they won new contracts. But there is no appreciation. The senior managers here have a culture of bullying. This is their way or no way.
“Toilet breaks are regular…In some cases, employees were stopped by a senior manager standing next to the toilet and told them to continue to rest…
In October, the company wrote to hundreds of other workers announcing that from November to September of the following year, due to “overpaid” vacations, up to 10% of their wages would be deducted each month.
In Scotland, approximately 90 drivers and warehouse workers in Belhill near Glasgow rejected 9% of the proposal within two years because it did not address the “poor wages” experienced by workers earning an average of £12.50 an hour. Workers also quarreled with DHL for failing to improve the working hours of drivers and other terms and conditions.
At Bombardier’s (now Spirit AeroSystems) Wing logistics center in Belfast, DHL employees voted 100% in support of strike action against poor wages and poor conditions. The Unite union reported that employees’ hourly wages are £9.24, of which “some have the longest working hours and the fewest vacations”.
The workers are determined to compete with DHL, which is the world’s largest logistics company with 41,000 employees in the UK, accounting for one-tenth of its 400,000 employees worldwide. Its parent company’s profit in the first half of this year reached a record 1.3 billion euros. When the labor market is very tight, workers are in an advantageous position and can form important links in the industry and food supply chains.
However, they face a staunch opponent in the Unite union, which is trying to stifle the movement on behalf of the employers they have been trying to protect for decades.
Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite, expressed a lot of views on the fact that JLR’s DHL employees have not raised their salaries since 2018. But this is due to the union’s past record of implementing management orders.
When DHL laid off more than 1,200 workers in its JLR business in August last year, Unite did not let go, saying only that they would work hard to “reduce unemployment to a minimum.”
In the face of growing labor rebellion, driven by rising inflationary pressures and intense exploitation throughout the pandemic, Unite is seeking to delay and isolate disputes to prevent the development of a fully athletic workforce across DHL’s 40,000 strong nationwide.
The Jaguar Land Rover battle has dragged on for several months. The salary dispute was first raised in March 2020. In the context of the vacation payment conflict, it returned in August this year, and Unite announced that it will “now begin voting for its more than 2,000 DHL members.” More than two months later, on October 20, after a meeting with the Advisory, Mediation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the union announced that it would end voting on labor action on November 15.
Unite did not even announce the results of the voting, only admitting that members gave “strong support.” The union immediately returned to ACAS for behind-the-scenes talks with the employer.
In Bellshill, Unite tried again to settle the dispute. After DHL’s initial proposal was rejected, the union entered into negotiations and made an “improvement proposal” to its members (details were not disclosed). This was rejected by 88% of the votes, and the turnout rate was 95%. When the results were announced on November 17, the union did not provide details of the proposed strike, but announced that it would re-enter negotiations with ACAS the next day.
Although all the workers involved are employed by the same company and face the same problems, every effort will be made to separate disputes.
After workers received a 6.2% pay increase, the October strike of 200 DHL truck drivers at the Sainsbury Regional Distribution Center in London and southeast Dartford was cancelled. This settlement reflects the pressure on employers from the shortage of HGV drivers and points out that if the union does not disrupt the broader fight, there are more possibilities.
In February of this year, the sold-out transaction at DHL’s Croxteth factory in Liverpool was even more painful. Among them, 120 warehouse workers who went on strike for a total of 10 days were awarded a wage agreement of 3% below the inflation rate in 2021. And a one-time payment of £75.
At Stagecoach, Arriva, and London operators, Unite is following the same script used to disarm bus drivers. Faced with more and more wages and conditions, it separates workers from each other and prevents them from mobilizing strike action as much as possible, creating the best conditions to enforce minimum wages.
In order to fight back, DHL employees need their own ordinary committee, independent of the company’s union. Through these committees, they can reach their colleagues in other parts of the country and internationally, as well as other workers in their departments, and organize a struggle for improved wages and conditions.
From Australia to the United States, logistics workers all over the world are fighting. They have mastered the bottleneck of the world economy. They must use this power to fight for demand, not based on the needs that employers say they can afford, but based on the needs of workers and their families.
Post time: Nov-26-2021