PostNL shows ‘social’ face, to use handicapped delivery workers

Experiments using people from sheltered work schemes and others claiming welfare benefits to deliver the post have proved such a success that PostNL is planning to implement the policy nationwide, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

The postal group plans to take on 500 people with a physical or mental handicap to help with delivery services plus an unknown number of welfare claimants. They will work for the company while continuing to claim benefits, the Volkskrant says.

Over 2% of the post will eventually be delivered by people with a handicap. ‘We are taking our social responsibilities as a major employer seriously,’ the company’s chief executive Herna Verhagen told the paper.

Sorting offices

Some 1,200 people with a physical or mental handicap are already employed in PostNL distribution centres. They, and the new staff, will be employed via social services, which will also take care of supervising them.

PostNL’s head of purchasing Laurens Tuinhout confirmed to the Volkskrant that it is cheaper to bring in workers via social services but says this is not the primary aim. ‘People from sheltered work schemes are fantastically loyal,’ he said.

‘Temporary employees get bored if they have to put packages on a conveyer belt all day but these people are happy to come to work every day.’

Jobs

People claiming welfare benefits will work for PostNL for limited periods, the paper says, without going into further details on its website.

Trade union CNV said it is unhappy at the move. ‘People are being sacked and replaced by cheaper workers,’ spokeswoman Aynur Polat told news agency ANP. Handicapped workers should also be paid according to minimum wage rates and covered by social insurance, she said.

In February, PostNL revised its plans to replace 10,000 postal delivery workers by freelancers. The company had planned to cut the number of permanent delivery workers by 2,800, but this will now be a maximum of 650.

PostNL has also been in the headlines recently after it emerged 300 delivery workers were sacked last year for failing to deliver post, either by dumping or stealing it.

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