LONDON -- DHL is facing a national strike in the United Kingdom, which labor leaders warn will cripple the express company's operations during the peak shipping season in one of its biggest markets.

The GMB union said it will poll around 5,000 workers at DHL, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Post, over restructuring plans which it claims will result in sizeable job losses and force many other employees to accept casual, or part-time, contracts.

The union charges the jobs of up to 3,000 workers could be affected by the restructuring. It claims the company plans to replace permanent jobs with 2,500 part-time staff and close 20 out of 85 local depots and four out of five of its national delivery hubs.

The union also rejected a three-year wage offer, claiming it was an effective "pay cut."

The strike threat emerged as logistics workers at the state-run National Health Service prepared for their second 24-hour walk-out Tuesday night to protest plans to transfer the service to DHL under a 10-year $3-billion contract. The deal is the single-largest contract secured by any Deutsche Post business.

The government says it will save $1.9 billion over the lifetime of the contract. But the unions claim it is part of a larger plan to privatize the state health system.

Bruce Barnard
The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE