Deutsche Post might cut up to 6,000 jobs
German post operator Deutsche Post might have to cut up to 6,000 jobs due to the legally forced co-operation with rivals, group CEO Klaus Zumwinkel said in an interview to German daily Die Welt on May 6, 2005.
The consolidation of the private mailing firms will result in some 200 mln euro ($259 mln) less turnover for Deutsche Post, he said. That means that the group will have to cut more than 6,000 jobs over the years to offset the falling sales, Zumwinkel added.
Deutsche Post does not expect any significant drops in turnover after 2008 when its monopoly on the mailing market will be revoked. Zumwinkel referred to countries such as Sweden, in which the deregulation on the market brought no considerable changes.
[Editor’s note: The Higher Regional Court in the German city of Duesseldorf upheld an earlier decision of the German anti-cartel watchdog to force Deutsche Post to allow more competitors on the mail delivery market by granting them discounts, the German News Digest reported on April 13, 2005. Deutsche Post has maintained legal proceedings with the Higher Regional Court against the essence of the anti-cartel watchdog’s decision.
The head of the anti-cartel office Ulf Boege defended the decision, saying it would revitalise the competition on the mail delivery market. He added he expects the Higher Regional Court would not overrule the decision in later appeals.]
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Source: Die Welt,AII Data Processing Ltd.
Deutsche Post Press Release 3/5/05
Consolidation places thousands of jobs at risk
§ Liberalization too early
§ Additional threat to the nationwide provision of all postal services
Following the conclusion of the first downstream-access agreements with “consolidators”, Deutsche Post once again warns that such agreements pose an enormous risk for thousands of jobs that are fully subject to social security. The new, high-quality jobs that these competitors say will be created as a result of the early opening of the letter mail market in Germany will not materialize. Instead, the “mini-jobs” (part-time employment with gross wages of no more than EUR 400 a month) created by competitors will inevitably be at the expense of high-quality jobs at Deutsche Post.
Deutsche Post also warns against additional risks arising from a one-sided liberalization that contradicts the spirit of the Postal Act. It has filed an appeal with the Düsseldorf Intermediate Court of Appeals against a decision taken by the Federal Cartel Office. Should the Düsseldorf court reverse the Federal Cartel Office’s decision or should the central question of law be settled in Deutsche Post’s favor by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, Deutsche Post will reclaim the discounts that consolidators have wrongly demanded of it. Moreover, the German government is of the same opinion as Deutsche Post and has also taken legal action against a parallel decision by the European Commission.
Deutsche Post categorically refuses to accept a premature undermining of its exclusive license, the duration and scope of which have been explicitly defined by the German legislature. The revenues generated under this license are needed to ensure the nationwide availability of all postal services.
