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KN Drinks shake-up plans get truck drivers' support
Page 8
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By Joanna Bourk, TRUCK DRIVERS at KN Drinks Logistics have voted in favour of shake-up plans that could see some HGV drivers have their hours slashed by up to 60% Plans by KN Drinks to move employees to part-time contracts, which could include moving to a threeor four-day working week, were introduced by parent Kuehne + Nagel to cope with a continuing decline in ontrade drinks volumes. Members of trade union Unite have been deliberating the proposals since the beginning of the year, and CM can now reveal an overwhelming majority accepted them.
Full-time staff are usually contracted to 260 days, with annual leave and public holidays, in a 52week period. With the shake-up, lorry drivers and warehouse operatives will move to one of three new contracted shifts per annum: comprising of 208; 156; and 104 days.
"The employee will receive a basic salary that will be 80%, 60% or 40% of the standard full-time basic salary," Unite states in a document seen by CM, and sent to affected employees.
A spokeswoman for Unite tells CM: "The key elements are that it is totally voluntary to transfer to part-time contracts and people choosing to do so will receive a redundancy payment equivalent to the hours that they are reducing by. This was accepted by an overwhelining majority."
The move to shorter hours will be subject to quarterly reviews, and K+N has agreed that the ratio of part-time contracts to full-time contracts in secondary fleet operations, will not exceed 25%/75%.
K+N was unavailable for comment as CM went to press.
John Crosk, operations manager at rival Tradeteam, says that many drinks logistics firms are struggling: "Drinks distributors are also finding competition from wholesalers offering freehouse trade customers competitive deals, which they can either deliver to, or have clients collect directly."