LTB 546/20 – CWU DHL Parcel National Petition
LTB No: 546/20
16th November 2020
CWU DHL Parcel National Petition
To all CWU branches and activists,
Stop DHL Making a Covid Killing at Workers Expense
DHL Parcel UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been shameful.
Due to greatly increased demand, the company have continued to see profits grow, while placing their own key workers in dire financial hardship.
To avoid any potential government fines, DHL has been insistent on reminding employees of their wider obligations should they test positive for Covid-19, or are contacted by the track-and-trace system.
There isn’t any doubt: self-isolation is an essential part of helping to tackle the virus infection rate.
But currently, DHL Parcel UK are paying limited or zero sick pay for workers forced to self-isolate, and are counting this as part of normal sick absences. This means that doing your duty as a citizen could trigger disciplinary processes, and that the company expects workers to pay the price for recovery.
Company policy claims to be reviewing all instances of self-isolation on a case-by-case basis. But in the course of our representing workers, the CWU has found no evidence of any review.
To make it clear: we believe DHL workers are suffering a gross injustice for following government guidelines on Covid-19. We believe that the company’s practice and process is deeply unfair. Nobody should be forced to choose between self-isolating for the common good, or feeding their families and paying bills.
Our petition calls for DHL Parcel UK to:
- Pay their employees sick pay if they, or a household member or person in their social bubble, displays Covid-19 symptoms;
- Manage any Covid-19 related absence outside of their sickness absence policy, as employees do not have a choice over self-isolation.
We are asking all CWU branches, members and friends to help widely distribute this petition online through email lists to workers and across social media.
The CWU is committed to creating fairness, equality and justice for all employees across the parcels sector. Our primary goal is to protect employment rights and narrow the gap between recognised and non-recognised companies.
This will enable us to protect terms and conditions within our core business and maintain the integrity of the service.
We need to make sure that all those who benefit from the CWU’s work become members of our union – and that is why wider support in this campaign is crucial.
Actions:
- Distribute the DHL Parcel COVID-19 petition from your social media accounts. We have suggested wording for your posts and images attached. There is also a poster for members to show their solidarity – please post photos of yourself holding this for social media, tagging the below CWU campaign accounts and hashtags
- Distribute the DHL COVID-19 petition to CWU Members and activists via email
- Engage in the debate with your own comments using #DHLCovid to show solidarity with DHL workers
- Please email dhl@cwu.org to let us know about your progress in petition distribution.
- Follow our social media accounts for the DHL Campaign:
- Facebook: /cwuatDHL Twitter: @CWUatDHL
Suggested wording for social media posts are:
- Tell @DHLParcelUK that their workers should not be forced to choose between self isolating for the common good or feeding their families #DHLCovid
Sign the petition 👇https://www.cwu.org/dhl-sick-pay-petition - Workers in @DHLParcelUK who worked throughout #COVID19 crisis should not be facing financial hardship, they deserve full sick pay for self-isolation, sign the petition now #DHLCovid 👇https://www.cwu.org/dhl-sick-pay-petition📢
Yours sincerely,
Ray Ellis
Head of Recruitment and Organising
LTB 546:20 CWU DHL Parcel National Petition
