Union representatives have presented cost-cutting proposals to DHL in an effort to prevent 320 job losses in the company’s branches nationwide, including 20 in Athlone.
Talks were continuing yesterday in the hope that some of the jobs could be saved. However, SIPTU officials are urging workers to be prepared, claiming a number of job cuts are inevitable.
DHL announced last Thursday it was seeking to reduce its employee numbers by up to 320. This would include the restructuring of operations in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and the closure of up to seven regional depots, including Athlone.
Senior economist with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU ), Paul Sweeney, met with DHL management yesterday (Thursday ) to examine the company’s financial options.
And on Wednesday, SIPTU representatives held five hours of talks with the company, during which they put forward proposals to reduce costs and offset some of the proposed 320 redundancies across the company.
“The company was surprised at the inventiveness of our proposals. While they welcomed the proposals, they weren’t sure if they would go far enough to save the regional depots [including Athlone]. But they acknowledged our hard work and were not ruling anything out,” SIPTU branch organiser Pat Ward told the Advertiser.
DHL management are to report back to SIPTU on Monday, after they have examined the potential savings outlined in the proposals, which according to Mr Ward “would provide for the retention of the Athlone depot”.
However, he is reluctant to offer false hope to the workers, and says that some redundancies are inevitable. “We have to accept there will be redundancies,” he said.
Meanwhile DHL management could only confirm that they are in consultation talks with SIPTU, saying it would be inappropriate to comment until this process is complete. A 30-day consultation period began on Monday this week.
Reacting to the news of the proposed cuts, Sinn Fein’s Cllr Paul Hogan said everything possible must be done to retain the DHL jobs in Athlone.
“This is a very worrying time for the workers of the Athlone plant of DHL Express...I am aware that the management of the company and unions are due to meet at some stage in the coming days to begin discussions on redundancy terms. I believe every effort should be made to ensure these jobs are retained. We cannot afford to lose any more jobs in this area,” said Cllr Hogan.
