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The Swiss Communications Union has criticised the Swiss government decision to allow private delivery companies to be able to deliver letters over 50 grams starting 1 July 2009. The Swiss Federal Council 22 April gave its approval to the change, thus opening up 25 percent of the postal system to private competition. But the union says this flies in the face of the voices who have called for more caution. Those voices are not only the union, but also the ad hoc committees of both Federal and the Plenary of the Council of States (Parliament).



The move sets in motion the first part of a two-phase operation to end the mail monopoly held by La Poste by 2012. The liberalization of the market requires a change to the law, and the Federal Council said Wednesday it will deliver its proposal to the parliament before the 2009 summer break. The postal regulatory authority’s role will be strengthened as part of the new law, it noted.



The union says that this lowering of the postal monopoly, whose existence is fully justified by being the way that the costs of universal service and postal network are funded, unnecessarily weakens the ability of the Post Office to ensure its mission of public service. This is also particularly inappropriate in times of economic crisis. In this period, the Swiss economy, consisting mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises, needs stable, accessible and quality public services. And not a weakened Post Office. In addition, the decline of the monopoly is potentially destructive for jobs with a good employer like the Post Office, while the prospects for replacement jobs with other operators are zero.



It appears that the Post Office again and again wishes to delete the post office services one after another to keep only the most profitable, without account for its public service remit. The union is vigorously fighting this intention, including a petition (www.reseaupostal.ch) which has already garnered over 40,000 signatures in a month.