DHL strike hits Christmas deliveries in France
‘All packages will be delivered even if they are a little late’, says DHL spokesperson
Some four million parcels are delivered each day in France in the run-up to Christmas
Claudio Schwarz / Unsplash
Many parcels are held up at airports and warehouses in France due to a strike by workers at transporter DHL and risk not arriving in time for Christmas.
The strike, which ran between December 9 and 13, saw 80% of workers at DHL France participate. It resulted in a backlog of deliveries and pick-ups affecting around 12,000 packages a day, according to unions.
Unions were angered by “the absence of mandatory annual negotiations” and the cancellation of a bonus worth around €3,000.
The company says that it will not resume negotiations before January 9.
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The strike action is particularly damaging as the run up to Christmas usually sees delivery companies handle 50% more packages than in any other month.
Workers returned to their posts on December 13 at 23:00, with one telling TF1 that there were “thousands of parcels” held up in warehouses.
However, DHL France sought to downplay the potential disruption.
“No, there are not thousands of parcels waiting to be delivered,” Fatah Ziani, DHL Express France's Director of Operations told BFM.
“All these parcels will be delivered even if they are a little late, and we will provide our services to all our customers in the end.”
