Post trade union to protest IPO till OeIAG decision in March 2006
The trade union of Austrian state-owned postal company Oesterreichische Post AG decided on January 16, 2006 to oppose the initial public offering (IPO) of the post office up to the decision of state-holding and privatisation agency OeIAG on the sale, which is expected not sooner than in mid-March 2006.
Trade union head Gerhard Fritz and his deputy Manfred Wiedner gave no detail on the plans for future action, except for a protest march, which will take place on January 19, 2006. Fritz did not exclude the possibility of a strike.
Adapted by AII Data Processing for APA
Post Office staff plan protest march against privatization
APA 01-17-2006
Vienna
Postal staff will march to the Finance Ministry this Thursday afternoon in protest against the planned privatization of 49 per cent of the Post Office in June, according to a decision by union leaders.
A meeting Monday evening stopped short of calling an immediate strike, which had been expected in some quarters, but did not exclude one at a later stage.
The representatives including Postal Workers Union chief Gerhard Fritz said they rejected privatization at the present time because the Post Office had not yet been able to develop the growth strategy needed before going on the stock exchange.
Apart from a simple cabinet decision, there was no guarantee that 51 per cent of the Post Office would in fact stay in the hands of the state.
Many framework conditions of the privatization had not yet been clarified. That meant sending the Post Office to the stock exchange now was “a potential threat” to the 27,000 staff. There was the danger of further reduction of jobs, and loss of incomes.
Fritz said the protest march was “a first step”. The right steps would be taken at the right time. The “maximum goal” was to prevent privatization at all this year. If that did not succeed, the “minimum goal” was job security for postal workers. (Schluss) qu
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