Women postal workers ask MEP’s to sign to save Post
Women postal workers ask MEP’s to sign to save Post
Women postal workers handed out red roses to the Members of the European Parliament to mark International Women’s day and to ask MEP’s to sign the Written Declaration to save postal services. WD 94 is reaching a crucial stage in the campaign to gain enough MEP’s signatures to get it accepted in the Parliament. Veronica Fernandez, UNI Global Union’s Equality Officer, joined with postal workers to celebrate international Women’s day handing red roses to the MEP’s and asking them to support women postal workers by signing the Written Declaration to Save Europe’s Postal service.
Postal workers from Greece also travelled to Strasbourg to meet Greek MEP’s and take part in the activities organised by UNI. They joined in handing out many of the 400 roses to celebrate the day and to urge the MEP’s to save their fellow Greek postal workers, many of whom were facing an uncertain future in a Greek postal market seriously affected by the global recession and with the liberalisation, a postal service that is in danger of seeing cuts to service and losses of many, many jobs.
Cornelia Berger from UNI Europa Post & Logistics had set up a large number of meetings with members of the Parliament which were attended by Veronica Fernandez, Colin Medland representing UNI Youth and Neil Anderson Head of UNI Post & Logistics. Many of the MEP’s said they saw the dangers for postal workers and in particular women postal workers in a liberalisation that has not seen a proper impact assessment done, or any studies on the social impact on both workers and customers. Cornelia told women MEP’s that in the experience of UNI, women postal workers could expect job losses and many women having to accept part time and short time jobs without proper social protections.
UNI is continuing to ask MEP’s to sign the Declaration and to demand of the Commission that they immediately undertake a proper impact study on the social consequences and also to urgently set up the Postal Users Group promised by Commissioner Barnier back in September last year.