Gov't begins talks with union for trimming postal staff (Japan)
The chief of the Postal Services Agency said Tuesday the agency has begun
negotiations with its labor union on trimming the 140,000-strong
workforce at post offices with the aim of rebuilding loss-making postal operations.
”It’s desirable that postal operations break even when a public postal
services corporation is established in 2003. We have to take very
extensive steps for that,” Seijiro Adachi, director general of the agency, told a press conference. ”We are hoping to sort out (the degree of workforce
reduction and other details) with the union in the fall of this year,” he said. The agency, created Jan. 6 in line with the sweeping realignment of
government ministries and agencies, is scheduled to become a public
corporation in two years. While it will still be a state-run entity, the
new corporation to take over the three postal businesses — mail delivery, savings and insurance — is to be financially independent. Although Adachi declined to give a target for the workforce reduction,
agency sources said a cut of between 10,000 and 20,000 staff over five
years is being eyed. The mail delivery service fell into the red in fiscal 1998
due to a decline in parcel deliveries due to competition from the private sector. It is expected to post a loss of more than 30 billion yen in fiscal 2001, which began April 1, for the fourth consecutive year in the red.
”Inefficiency remains (in the mail delivery service) due to slow progress
in the redistribution of management resources under the principle of
operating uniformly nationwide,” Adachi said. The agency also plans to
reduce the 28 postal savings administrative centers
nationwide to 11 when the independent public corporation is set up. Page
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COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale GroupJAPAN WEEKLY MONITOR, 16th April 2001<
