Union accuses government of “sabotaging” New Zealand Post

The Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa (PWUA) has accused the government of trying to sabotage New Zealand Post. In a statement issued by the union yesterday (23 July), spokesperson John Maynard said: “While finance minister Bill English says the Government does not intend to sell New Zealand Post, they are doing a very good job at trying to sabotage the state owned postal service.”

Maynard continued: “Posties may be the only employees in New Zealand compelled to assist private companies to actively undermine the viability of their own employer. The National Government’s Postal Services Act 1998 requires posties to deliver the mail of private sector mail companies which do not have their own delivery network.

“The Government has also been consistently pressuring New Zealand Post to reduce its costs. The company’s response has included privatising Post Shops and reducing delivery services.

“To the marketing advantage of its private sector competitors New Zealand Post has also loudly proclaimed its delivery service reductions while at the same time quietly removing many hundreds of kerb side post boxes against strongly expressed objections from within local communities.”

Maynard argued that the government is pursing a hidden agenda, with privatisation as the goal.

“Like everyone else the Postal Workers Union is well aware of the changes in communication technologies, however the Union believes the company’s response is less about the economics of declining mail volumes and more about the ideology of privatisation,” said Maynard.

“Having voted for the deregulation of the letter market while a cabinet minister, one of Bill English’s predecessors, ex finance minister Bill Birch, is on the board of a private sector mail company directly benefitting from the reduction in postal services by New Zealand Post.

“No one from the Government or New Zealand Post has denied the Union’s public statements that New Zealand Post is undergoing a process of ‘privatisation by stealth’. Neither has the CEO responded to an urging by the Union to assure posties that New Zealand Post is not being deliberately run into the ground.”