News Summary

Members of Congress from Ohio are questioning whether express shipper DHL is providing all the money it promised to help offset the economic devastation anticipated from the planned shutdown of its U.S. freight hub in Wilmington and loss of at least 8,000 jobs.

"We understand that DHL has yet to begin providing substantial amounts of the resources committed to assist the Wilmington area and its workers," U.S. Sens. George Voinovich and Sherrod Brown, and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, wrote in the co-signed letter. "Consequently, we are concerned that DHL may fail to provide all of the pledged assistance."

DHL said on Tuesday, Dec. 23, that it has been making regular payments to provide all the money it promised, including funding severance, retention and health care benefits for the Wilmington-area work force and funding a facility at its Wilmington airport to help workers find new jobs. DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker said the company also is committed to donating $1 million to the Clinton County Foundation in Wilmington for support to people indirectly affected by DHL's upcoming closure there.

"DHL is surprised by the content of the letter," the company said in a prepared statement. "For several months, we have been in steady dialogue with local authorities, representatives of the community as well as regional and state politicians, to ensure the proper implementation of the planned and already communicated mitigation efforts in Wilmington and Ohio."

The lawmakers noted that in testimony to Congress, chief executive officer John Mullen of DHL Express said his company had agreed to provide at least $260 million for severance, retention and health care benefits for the Wilmington-area work force, including $225 million over and above contractual and legal obligations.

Voinovich, Brown and Turner also wrote that they are concerned DHL's planned deep cuts in its U.S. operations in 2009 could burden the U.S. worker pensions system.

They urged DHL to work with its cargo airline partners at Wilmington, ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo, and to fund its U.S. employee pensions so that the burden will not fall on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., an agency Congress created in 1974 to back up the pensions promised to American workers.

"DHL should understand that its failure to provide the promised mitigation assistance will be viewed as another example of the company's dismissive treatment, which will not be easily forgotten in the United States," the lawmakers wrote.

The letter, addressed to board chairman Frank Appel of DHL's German-based owner, Deutsche Post World Net, was dated Monday and released immediately to news organizations. No one at DHL in the United States or Germany had received the letter as of Tuesday, Baker said.

To cut its U.S. losses, DHL has said it will drastically reduce its U.S. express delivery service after January to only cross-border deliveries between U.S. and foreign cities. DHL also has said it hopes to conclude a 10-year deal to hire United Parcel Service to handle all its U.S. cargo sorting and flying from the UPS hub at Louisville, Ky., ending the need for DHL's Wilmington hub.