Save Our Post – European postal workers’ campaign

Our vision of a sustainable future for the postal industry.

In the wake of the review of the Postal Services Directive, postal workers and their trade unions join forces to let EU decision-makers know what our priorities are for the postal sector and what postal services we want to see in the future.

Our demands

1. Invest in the future of post
2. Build on the existing USO to reflect parcel growth
3. Include social and environmental standards in minimum standards
4. Guarantee a sustainable financing of the USO
5. Uphold minimum USO requirements

1. Invest in the future of post
We call on legislators to provide incentives to strengthen the postal networks and to find innovative products.
We call for the maintenance and enhancement of the scope and quality of universal postal networks.
We call on legislators to enable the reorganisation and modernisation of the postal networks in a democratic manner.
In many parts of Europe, notably rural areas, postal services are the only means of communication and social inclusion. We call on the legislators to uphold the crucial role of posts in promoting social and territorial cohesion.

2. Build on the existing USO to reflect parcel growth
Without challenging the importance of letters, witnessing the continued growth of e-Commerce, parcels are of crucial importance for national economies and are a way to support SMEs’ growth in the regions.
We call on the legislators to enact a full citizen right to regular and affordable parcel delivery at uniform prices in a national territory, to send and receive parcels.
For this we demand strong market regulation that guarantees good working conditions, decent wages, and high quality of service.

3. Include social and environmental standards in minimum standards
All companies providing services under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) must report to the National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs).
The NRAs should uphold and safeguard social and environmental standards. The NRAs need to enforce corrective mechanisms in case of non-respect of established standards and national legislation.
The new postal regulatory framework must impede instances of unfair competition and social dumping by upholding fair practices in terms of employment conditions, environmental performance and quality of service.

4. Guarantee a sustainable financing of the USO
The new regulatory framework must guarantee the sustainable financing of the USO in a shrinking market without profit orientation.
We call on the legislators to review the current system of postal compensatory funds as it does not function properly.
All market players involved in the USO must contribute to its financing whilst guaranteeing the high quality of service at uniform affordable prices.
Companies must not be able to cherry-pick only profitable areas. They should not be authorised to operate if they practice social dumping in a national market through instances of unfair competition.

5. Uphold minimum USO requirements
Current definitions of the USO in terms of quality, affordability, accessibility, delivery time and frequency standards must be upheld and/or maintained as defined in each national context.
Delivery has a price. Free delivery advertisements create market distortions and put pressure on prices. Citizens should be able to make an informed choice between operators in a free market. Market liberalisation needs to be accompanied by social cohesion measures that guarantee decent wages and working conditions for all market players involved in the postal supply chain.

Why do we campaign?

Since 2008 with the implementation of the third postal directive, postal companies in the EU operate in a fully liberalised postal market. At the time, the Commission and the Member States argued that liberalisation would bring about higher quality, greater efficiency and better customer-orientation; lower prices; more and better jobs.

This has not come to pass. Postal liberalisation has failed the postal workers, their trade unions, and ultimately the citizens which are also the consumers.

They had promised increased QUALITY, more efficiency and better user-orientation. In reality, most companies have cut costs by downsizing or outsourcing the postal network. Post offices have been transformed into access points at petrol stations or supermarkets with limited services.

The public spends more time and travels farther to access postal services as there are fewer letter boxes and parcel pick-up points. New apps and electronic services force people to use electronic stamps and to franchise and pre-sort their mail. Crowd-sourced delivery models (Uber model) require people to organise their own platform-based parcel deliveries, or even to deliver the parcels themselves.

To maintain a postal service as a service of general economic interest which ensures social and territorial cohesion and enables all citizens to communicate with one another, we need to defend the existing service and lobby the decision-makers for a paradigm shift.

It is timely for the postal unions to confront the rhetoric of the EU Commission. Liberalisation has not brought about higher quality. It has meant drops in employment and a grave deterioration of working conditions. What is more it has put at risk the sustainable financing of the USO and hence the very mission of the postal services.

We want to make sure that the union’s priorities and demands are well heard by the decision-makers.

In revising the European postal regulatory framework, UNI Europa Post & Logistics’ trade unions call for the enactment of a fully-fledged citizen right to consume postal products based on an informed choice between operators.

The choice becomes informed if all market players abide by similar legal and regulatory standards, which is currently not the case. The aim is to uphold the mission of services of general economic interest to benefit the citizens and the consumers.

To achieve this, market operators must compete within a regulatory level-playing field that abides by social and environmental standards and does not engage in a race-to-the-bottom in terms of wages, working conditions and profit-seeking.

Postal  workers and their trade unions joined forces and engaged the Our Future Post Campaign.

We let EU decision-makers know what our priorities are for the postal sector and what postal  services we want to see in the future.

We explain how postal services liberalisation has changed the postal sector with a deterioration of working conditions and breaches to the public mission of postal services.

Through the Campaign, we defend postal services to avoid their reduction or destruction.

Join the Campaign!

Together, let’s be creative and visionary and create something new for our future post!

Postal services liberalisation has not worked for the sector and has not brought about higher quality.

It has meant drops in employment and a deterioration of working conditions.

It has put at risk the sustainable financing of the USO and hence the very mission of the postal services.

UNI Europa Post & Logistics engaged this Campaign to ensure that postal trade union’s priorities and demands are well heard and find their way into the application report of the Postal Services Directive.

 

You will find the various Campaign materials in different languages here.

If you would like to join the campaign, please contact us at: dimitris.theodorakis@uniglobalunion.org