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By RD Suresh Kumar

DHL is a leading company in India, with a staff strength of around 1100. We gained recognition for small local staff unions in 1999 and in 2002, after two previous failed attempts, agreed in principal to form a federation to unite all DHL employees working in India.

At this point, management began to victimise office bearers of the union throughout the country. Within a year senior office bearers in Coimbatore, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai had been terminated.The victimisation worsened in 2004, when 15 staff members from Kolkatta were transferred to Delhi against their wishes, and 20 were transferred from Mumbai to Delhi.

All the employees who were victimised by management approached labour courts to redress their grievances, but their cases are still pending in the labour courts of various states.

We are happy to state that there is a cordial relationship between the DHL management and our union at Chennai. We are able to negotiate, and signed a settlement for a wage increase in 2003. However in other states, including Mumbai, management has refused to negotiate with the local unions, while in many localities we have not even been able to form unions, and staff are suffering.

The latest problem concerns outsourcing practices, which have reduced the strength of our membership and forced fewer staff to shoulder more work. Recruitment has been frozen for the past seven years.

RD Suresh Kumar is General Secretary of the DHL Employees’ Union.