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UNI europa Post & Logistics gets European Parliament support

Published: 15 April 2010
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 UNI europa Post & Logistics gets support in the European Parliament



During the UNI europa Post & Logistics Lobby week, European postal Trade Unionists met with several MEPs and the European Commission



The lobby week of UNI europa Post & Logistics started very successfully with several personal meetings with MEP's, and Chair's of EU Parliament Committees. It then proceeded to a political brunch which had been organised together with the S&D group in the European Parliament and the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB). During these meetings and the Brunch, representatives of more than 15 Trade Unions from different European countries met several MEPs from different political groups. All of them assured their support for the UNI europa Post & Logistics demands for a moratorium on the implementation of the 3rd postal directive which signals full liberalisation of the postal market.



Brian Simpson, Chair of the Transport and Tourism Committee in the European Parliament and member of the S&D group met with the UNI delegation and gave advice on how to work with his committee to meet the concerns of the postal workers as did Pervenche Berès, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.



During the political brunch which was hosted by Austrian MEP, Evelyn Regner and chaired by German MEP, Jutta Steinruck, Belgian MEP Isabelle Durant, (vice-president of the European Parliament and member of the Group of the Greens in the European Parliament), reported about the difficulties for postal services in Belgium, even the post office in the EP building in Brussels is affected by the restructuring process caused by the liberalisation and it is proposed that it be closed. She told the meeting she is already fighting for a secure and quality postal service and good working conditions in Belgium and will keep on doing this also on European level.



Dennis De Jong, member of the group Nordic Green Left and European United Left in the European Parliament shared his experiences from the Netherlands and gave an overview about the catastrophic conditions in the postal sector. The group had already made an oral request for a moratorium in the European Parliament and it was seeking the support of other groups in the parliament. Several other MEPs from other groups were also present and stressed their solidarity and support, too.



Less successful were the meetings with the European Commission. DG Employment understood the importance of the need to include the new competitors in the European social dialogue and will work with the social partners to achieve this aim but could offer no support for UNI's demands for a moratorium. DG Markets however is blind to any problems the liberalisation process is producing and somehow only sees that competition will bring advantages in what they claim is more choice for customers. Even after hearing from the UNI delegation reports of very bad experiences of liberalisation from the Netherlands, the UK, Spain and Germany and the disastrous situation in those liberalised markets they were not convinced anything needed to be done other than to continue down the same path. Mr. Kiljanski head of the DG Markets postal group, believes in the theory of a self-regulated market – if the service is not good, customers will change the provider - and DG Markets refuses to consider regulation mechanisms to guarantee social conditions and avoid social dumping. In the misguided view of DG Markets there wouldn’t be any development, modernisation or innovation in postal cervices without competition. This despite it being pointed out very clearly to him that postal companies have been modernising permanently over hundreds of years while providing secure and quality services. He shocked the delegation with several provocative claims such as saying it would be better to have 200 half-time employees working for € 5 per hour than 100 full-time employees working for € 10 per hour and even more bizarrely claimed that often unemployment could be good for people giving them a new focus on life and giving them impetuous to change!!.



Jacques Lemercier, President of UNI europa Post & Logistics and Neil Anderson, Head of Department in UNI Post & Logistics concluded that the cooperation with the European Parliament makes sense and will be followed up. “We can’t have any faith in getting our concerns dealt with by the European Commission, this was very clear after the meetings. But we will keep on fighting for secure and quality postal services provided by workers with good working conditions and salaries.” Further UNI europa Post & Logistics will contact and inform the citizens, local politicians and involved groups about the social consequences of the liberalisation. Together we will have a chance to influence the development of the postal market and give it an acceptable direction. We demand a moratorium on the liberalisation of postal services until the social consequences are researched, the social conditions in the whole postal market are secure, the financing of universal services is guaranteed and a way is found to compete on quality and innovation in the market.