La Poste to hire 10,000 additional staff by 2014
La Poste has concluded several months of negotiations with four trade unions in a new wage deal for 2012. The deal signed with the CFDT, CFTC, CGC-UNSA and FO unions provides for wage increases of 2.10% for non-executive staff, comprising a 0.7% raise from 1st April 2012 and a 1.4% raise on 1st September 2012.
It should see average wages for general postal staff rising to EUR 18,858 a year before tax, or around EUR 1,571 per month before tax. France’s minimum wage is currently 1,398.37 per month before tax.
Executives are seeing pay increases of between 2.5% and 2.7%.
The French postal service said that along with the contract, it has also proposed a new workforce planning strategy that should see 10,000 jobs created, which would take the form of full-time three-year contracts.
La Poste’s management, which has led union negotiations since the autumn, is aiming to strengthen the organisation’s social model, the company said.
“In a difficult economic period, La Poste is concerned with protecting the living standards of its employees,” it said in a statement. “The management of La Poste are also aiming to provide better awareness about employment in the medium term, as it remains one of the largest employers and recruiters in France.”
The workforce planning strategy (Gestion Prévisionnelle de l’Emploi et des Compétencies), which remains subject to agreement with the unions, will see 10,000 people hired for the 2012-14 period.
It will also set out work-based learning programmes, offering at least 7,500 study contracts over the same period.
La Poste is proposing to set up a Trade, Skills and Qualifications Centre to bring greater awareness to staff about the impact of changes in the market on their careers and skills, in the short and medium-term.
The postal service also said it has committed to establishing training programmes to develop the skills and qualifications of its staff. It has also pledged to improve the internal mechanisms for staff to move up and develop opportunities for staff to move into different trades.
La Poste currently employs around 240,000 people, but saw its workforce cut through attrition by about 11,700 in 2010 and about 10,000 in 2011.
Public service contract
On Tuesday, La Poste signed an amendment to its 2008-2012 public service contract with the French government that sought to address market changes that have occurred since the original accord was signed in 2008.
The French postal market has been fully liberalised since January 2011, and along with this extra competition La Poste has been affected by the lower mail volumes resulting from the rise of the Internet, while also benefiting from e-commerce package volumes.
The amendment, focusing on the 2011-12 period, introduced new service quality indicators and targets, including an 85% on-time target for priority letters.
It requires La Poste to communicate with all customers when making changes affecting the universal postal service, particularly price changes.
The amended contract also commits the postal service to maintaining retail access for rural areas, for which La Poste receives EUR 170m a year in state support, and to ongoing modernisation that should see queue times in 1,000 of the largest post offices under four minutes.
