News
BackThis week, the chairman of the Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers Helmut Köstinger has made his first official visit to the EU institutions in Brussels. Apart from meetings at the Commission, there was a Round Table with MEPs on the liberalisation of postal services, which had been organised by the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Chamber of Labour as well as by UNI Global Union. The discussion clearly revealed something: the liberalisation will lead to significant changes for the worse in some sectors of customer services; the postal workers have more than reached breaking point.
Some MEPs have started an initiative which is aimed at making the European Commission rethink its liberalisation strategy for postal services. Experiences have shown that in particular customer friendliness and the working conditions of workers have significantly deteriorated through the postal liberalisation.
MEP Bach: the promised benefits for customers have never been materialised
Georges Bach of the European People’s Party and apart from Said El Khadraoui (European Social Democrats) one of the main initiators of the written declaration “Save the Post” to prevent the negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services, criticised that he had fought against the liberalisation wave in the public sector for a long time, but that in the end he had only been able to push through some measures to cushion the impact. Many postal worker jobs had been lost and replaced by precarious employment conditions. The promised benefits for customers had never been realised. For example, rural post offices had been closed, to the detriment of the residents. One could definitely not talk about an added value for customers.
Kocsis: competition takes place via personnel costs
Andrea Kocsis, deputy chair of the German services trade union ver.di strongly criticised the postal liberalisation. At a share of personnel costs equalling 70 to 80 % of the total costs, the competition will take place on the backs of the workers. Over the past years, hourly rates have been sharply reduced. In Germany, today’s hourly rate is only € 6 to 8, whilst postal workers had received € 15 in the past. The wages, which were paid now, would be so low that workers would even receive social benefits. The courts had reversed a minimum wage regulation and now the trade union had been instructed to come to an agreement with postal workers in respect of a minimum wage. However, politics were very well aware that reaching an agreement would be highly unlikely, as the hourly wages would differ significantly between individual enterprises, was the critical conclusion of Kocsis.
Chairman of the Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers Köstinger: the pressure on workers is enormous
The new chairman of the Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers Helmut Köstinger outlined how quickly the situation of customers and workers had deteriorated since liberalisation measures in the postal sector had been introduced 10 years ago. The Austrian postal service had shed 10,000 jobs since 2000; new workers would get wages that were up to 40 percent lower. The working pressure on the remaining workers would be enormous - they have to fill the gaps created by personnel reduction. Köstinger informed that after the closure of over 1,000 post offices only 800 offices had remained. Originally, the Post had even hatched the plan only to operate 50 post offices by 2012; however, following negotiations at least 520 offices were safe. Since its flotation on the stock market, the Post orientates itself only on profit figures, commented the trade union boss. An increase in productivity is expected each year and in particular older workers reach their limits. And customer services also suffer significantly: in some regions customers have to cover a distance of up to 20 kilometres to collect a parcel. In addition, the Austrian Post would compete with its own subsidiary Feibra. In some cases, cross-border commuters from Hungary, Slovakia or other neighbouring countries were employed who would be paid per unit thereby pushing wages even further downwards.
Social Democrats and Greens: once the structures have been destroyed it is difficult to build them up again
The trade unionists were supported by almost all MEPs present. Evelyn Regner, Hannes Swoboda and Jörg Leichtfried of the European Social Democrats as well as Eva Lichtenberger of the European Greens criticised the Directives, which had led to liberalisation. They had clearly made the service quality for customers and the working conditions for employees worse. Lichtenberger criticised that once structures had been destroyed it would be difficult to build them up again. Leichtfried also criticised the destruction of the structures and explicitly pointed to the fate of rail workers, where the development due to the liberalisation of rail transport was now taking a similar course. In conversations with railroad worker representatives he had learned that workers had now voted to take strike action. This, emphasised Leichtfried, had strengthened those who were massively in favour of liberalisation. Based on the current political power relations one could at best cushion any legislation. He asked the trade unions to clarify who was responsible for liberalisation activities at EU level. Both the Greens and the Social Democrats request to preserve a nationwide supply of postal services, which if needed had to be enforced by taking action if the postal service providers did not comply with these legal provisions.
Disappointing the contribution of the Luxembourg MEP Astrid Lulling of the European People’s Party: she commented that the Postal Services had been comfortable state monopolies, which one had to beg in order to get a telephone connection installed. She had not signed the co-initiated declaration of her colleague Bach; it was unreal and the Member States had to become active. The Directives on the Liberalisation of postal services were not all that bad.
Berger: the Commission is a pioneer for bad customer service
Cornelia Berger of the European trade union federation for services and communication UNI Global Union provided an overview on the developments of the postal services in the individual Member States of the Union. Those countries would hardly notice any negative effects, where postal services had remained in the public sector. In countries where postal services had been (partly) privatised, one could observe very often significant deteriorations for both customers and workers. Only Austria and Belgium had ensured a social regulation. However, the conduct of the Commission would be alarming: EU officials have commissioned a study, which asks how much money the interviewees would spend to receive mail five times a week instead of only getting a delivery three times a week. This would pave the way to make customer service even worse. A study on the social impact of postal liberalisation would not even considered, criticised Berger finally.
MEP Bach emphasised at the end of the event that the Post had to become an important topic once again. To achieve this was the intention of the written declaration; this had nothing to do with an agreement one would sign, was his critical comment in the direction of his party colleague Lulling.
The written declaration to prevent the negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services has to be signed by the majority of MEPs to be officially accepted by the European Parliament. In the declaration, the Commission is urged to examine the impact of postal liberalisation on working conditions and to ensure that the universal service obligations of postal service providers are complied with. The written declaration can be found under the following link
Written declaration to prevent negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services
MEP Bach: the promised benefits for customers have never been materialised
Georges Bach of the European People’s Party and apart from Said El Khadraoui (European Social Democrats) one of the main initiators of the written declaration “Save the Post” to prevent the negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services, criticised that he had fought against the liberalisation wave in the public sector for a long time, but that in the end he had only been able to push through some measures to cushion the impact. Many postal worker jobs had been lost and replaced by precarious employment conditions. The promised benefits for customers had never been realised. For example, rural post offices had been closed, to the detriment of the residents. One could definitely not talk about an added value for customers.
Kocsis: competition takes place via personnel costs
Andrea Kocsis, deputy chair of the German services trade union ver.di strongly criticised the postal liberalisation. At a share of personnel costs equalling 70 to 80 % of the total costs, the competition will take place on the backs of the workers. Over the past years, hourly rates have been sharply reduced. In Germany, today’s hourly rate is only € 6 to 8, whilst postal workers had received € 15 in the past. The wages, which were paid now, would be so low that workers would even receive social benefits. The courts had reversed a minimum wage regulation and now the trade union had been instructed to come to an agreement with postal workers in respect of a minimum wage. However, politics were very well aware that reaching an agreement would be highly unlikely, as the hourly wages would differ significantly between individual enterprises, was the critical conclusion of Kocsis.
Chairman of the Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers Köstinger: the pressure on workers is enormous
The new chairman of the Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers Helmut Köstinger outlined how quickly the situation of customers and workers had deteriorated since liberalisation measures in the postal sector had been introduced 10 years ago. The Austrian postal service had shed 10,000 jobs since 2000; new workers would get wages that were up to 40 percent lower. The working pressure on the remaining workers would be enormous - they have to fill the gaps created by personnel reduction. Köstinger informed that after the closure of over 1,000 post offices only 800 offices had remained. Originally, the Post had even hatched the plan only to operate 50 post offices by 2012; however, following negotiations at least 520 offices were safe. Since its flotation on the stock market, the Post orientates itself only on profit figures, commented the trade union boss. An increase in productivity is expected each year and in particular older workers reach their limits. And customer services also suffer significantly: in some regions customers have to cover a distance of up to 20 kilometres to collect a parcel. In addition, the Austrian Post would compete with its own subsidiary Feibra. In some cases, cross-border commuters from Hungary, Slovakia or other neighbouring countries were employed who would be paid per unit thereby pushing wages even further downwards.
Social Democrats and Greens: once the structures have been destroyed it is difficult to build them up again
The trade unionists were supported by almost all MEPs present. Evelyn Regner, Hannes Swoboda and Jörg Leichtfried of the European Social Democrats as well as Eva Lichtenberger of the European Greens criticised the Directives, which had led to liberalisation. They had clearly made the service quality for customers and the working conditions for employees worse. Lichtenberger criticised that once structures had been destroyed it would be difficult to build them up again. Leichtfried also criticised the destruction of the structures and explicitly pointed to the fate of rail workers, where the development due to the liberalisation of rail transport was now taking a similar course. In conversations with railroad worker representatives he had learned that workers had now voted to take strike action. This, emphasised Leichtfried, had strengthened those who were massively in favour of liberalisation. Based on the current political power relations one could at best cushion any legislation. He asked the trade unions to clarify who was responsible for liberalisation activities at EU level. Both the Greens and the Social Democrats request to preserve a nationwide supply of postal services, which if needed had to be enforced by taking action if the postal service providers did not comply with these legal provisions.
Disappointing the contribution of the Luxembourg MEP Astrid Lulling of the European People’s Party: she commented that the Postal Services had been comfortable state monopolies, which one had to beg in order to get a telephone connection installed. She had not signed the co-initiated declaration of her colleague Bach; it was unreal and the Member States had to become active. The Directives on the Liberalisation of postal services were not all that bad.
Berger: the Commission is a pioneer for bad customer service
Cornelia Berger of the European trade union federation for services and communication UNI Global Union provided an overview on the developments of the postal services in the individual Member States of the Union. Those countries would hardly notice any negative effects, where postal services had remained in the public sector. In countries where postal services had been (partly) privatised, one could observe very often significant deteriorations for both customers and workers. Only Austria and Belgium had ensured a social regulation. However, the conduct of the Commission would be alarming: EU officials have commissioned a study, which asks how much money the interviewees would spend to receive mail five times a week instead of only getting a delivery three times a week. This would pave the way to make customer service even worse. A study on the social impact of postal liberalisation would not even considered, criticised Berger finally.
MEP Bach emphasised at the end of the event that the Post had to become an important topic once again. To achieve this was the intention of the written declaration; this had nothing to do with an agreement one would sign, was his critical comment in the direction of his party colleague Lulling.
The written declaration to prevent the negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services has to be signed by the majority of MEPs to be officially accepted by the European Parliament. In the declaration, the Commission is urged to examine the impact of postal liberalisation on working conditions and to ensure that the universal service obligations of postal service providers are complied with. The written declaration can be found under the following link
Written declaration to prevent negative consequences in view of the completion of the single market in case of postal services