Swiss lawmakers back move to alternate post office access
Switzerland’s National Council has rejected a proposal by the country’s communications union to bring in new rules to guarantee a certain level of access to full-service post offices across the country. The Syndicom union had filed back in September 2010 to request added protections for universal service, requiring postal services to be run by contracted staff, with costs of providing full post offices in rural areas met by income from postal banking.
In a debate this week, the National Council, one of the houses of the Swiss Federal Assembly, saw concern about the closure of post offices, particularly in rural areas, and move to alternative access points run by partners.
“There were 3,396 post offices operating in 2000, but at the end of 2011 only 1,873 post offices. Within 10 years over 1,500 post offices have been closed, replaced by agencies,” said Council member Max Chopard Acklin, who suggested the “profit-oriented” Swiss Post of today was “tearing holes in the public service”.
Doris Leuthard, the head of the Swiss government’s Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications insisted Switzerland had the best access to post office services in the world, with 3,600 access points.
But she said Swiss Post was a business and had to run its services profitably.
“Life changes, customer needs are changing, thus the company also has to adjust to the changing postal customer requirements,” said the minister.
“For customers, it does not matter who provides postal services, it is important they be provided at a good quality and at a reasonable price – whether the staff providing these services have an employment contract with the Post or with a third party.”
Evolution
“Overall attendance at post offices has declined each year”
The Federal Assembly’s own Commission for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF) had recommended a rejection of the union proposals.
It stated that the issue of universal postal services had already been debated when Switzerland enacted its most recent postal reform law, in December 2010.
The KVF’s Olivier Francais said the law was currently very clear, requiring post office access to communities within a 20-minute travel radius.
“There is some discontent among the public, because some of us find life is being badly affected by the transformation of modern society,” said Francais. “But it is a reality that overall attendance at post offices has declined each year, and there must be an evolution of the services offered by the Post.”
Union
The Syndicom union said following the debate that the National Assembly had “missed the chance to confirm a strong commitment to public service” in rejecting the proposals.
It said it collected more than 110,000 signatures in 2009 to support its proposals.
“This shows how much the Swiss people attach importance to a nationwide network of post offices, and postal services of good quality for the whole population,” said the union in a statement.
The union said it hoped the other chamber within the National Assembly, the Senate, would give a better assessment of its proposals.
