News

Rolf Büttner, President of UNI Post and Logistics, visited OZ Spoje, UNI’s Slovak affiliate, in Bratislava, on 3 – 5 March 2008During the visit he informed the OZ Spoje Post Committee about the work being done by UNI in the postal sector in particular, and asked about the working conditions of postal workers in Slovakia.



Rolf, the President of OZ Spoje Pavel Kyman and the President of the postal committee of the Zofia Leholska union were received by the Slovak government. A lively discussion took place with State Secretary Svantner and a senior official in the Ministry. The government reassured the unions that it intended to use all the leeway allowed under the EU Postal Services Directive, and that it did not intend to open its postal market before 2013. Rolf Büttner called on the government to do everything in its power to help bring about a significant increase in the wages of postal workers following the introduction of the euro. He said that the average wage earned by a Slovak postman of 450 euros a month was not enough to feed a family.



At a meeting with the head of Slovak Post, Libor Chras, opinions were exchanged with regard to the financing of the universal postal service and technological restructuring. One of the complaints raised was that the postal regulator did not clamp down sufficiently on unfair competition from new operators. The head of Slovak Post said that competitors were only active in the large cities and paid dumping wages that were 30 to 40% lower than the already low wages by Slovak Post. Both sides agreed that the universal service should continue to be provided, and that its financing needed to be covered by a new postal law. UNI expressed their hope that the negotiations with the postal workers would be completed speedily as postal workers needed to get the kind of wage increase demanded by the OZ Spoje union.



Discussions were also held with the new head of the postal regulatory authority, Jan Flak, and the President of the trade union confederation, Dr Gadsik.



As a follow-up to the visit it was agreed that a workshop would be organised on the subject of the impending postal reform in Slovakia. It was also agreed that UNI postal experts would help OZ Spoje to prepare for the parliamentary debate on the future of the post in Slovakia. UNI and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation also promised their support and solidarity.