A job pact for the postal sector, says Jennings at the UPU
This year’s UPU POC plenary session addressed the year gone by since last meeting, tackling on the issue of the financial crisis, how it has affected postal services through important drops in revenue, as well as the issue of liberalisation, privatisation and mergers of major postal operators. Climate change and the recent flight ban were also discussed. Opportunities for the postal sector in this context were also mentioned such as the popularity of postal financial services, diversification of products and an increased use of the internet.
Each of the speakers addressed these issues from their perspective.
Philip Jennings was part of a panel discussing CSR within the postal sector. In that regard he reminded the audience of the importance of considering CSR in a broad sense, especially the social issues in times of crisis. He touched upon what UNI Global Union has been doing in terms of addressing the crisis, including meeting G20 labour ministers and proposing a job pact. He mentioned that such a pact could be implemented in the postal sector.
On the issue of privatisation he talked about the paradox of nationalising banks and privatising post offices. He concluded by recalling what UNI‘s demands are in light of the crisis:
- To rethink the failed policy of liberalisation
- To rethink the need for proper regulation
- To rethink the need for social regulation especially with regard to liberalisation
- To encourage the development of postal banks
- An increased Social dialogue
- That Postal operators act as responsible citizens
Jack potter, Postmaster General, USPS mentioned the decrease in mail volume and the cost cutting measures pertaining to it.
Mr Brun, deputy CEO, SwissPost (Postfinance) talked about the increase in revenues and customers for the Swiss Post Bank during the past year.
Postal Financial services were also tackled by Mr Benjelloun Touimi, Director General of Poste Maroc. He emphasised the importance of postal banks for financial inclusion, especially in rural areas.
Representatives from Bhutan Post and the Nigeria Post discussed how their postal services are being diversified.
The second part of the session addressed the issues of privatisation, with an intervention by Mr Brune, Director of Strategy, La Poste, on the privatisaion of La Poste, as well as an update from Mr Metoki, General Manager for International strategy at Japan Post, on what is occurring with the Japanese postal reform.
Mr Szebeny, general Secretary of Posteurop addressed the environmental issues faced by postal services as well as climate change and Mr Sidébé, Executive Director UNAIDS encouraged all postal operators to take part in the joint HIV prevention campaign, which UNI is part of with the UPU, the ILo and UNAIDS.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Dayan, UPU General Director mentioned the importance for the postal sector to innovate and adapt, without however forgetting the importance of the mail segment.