Deutsche Post concerned about unfair competition in Europe
Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Post, has expressed concerns about the failure of the liberalization of postal markets in Europe, the comprehensive and country-wide provision of postal services for Germany, job security at Deutsche Post and the social standards offered by new postal service providers.
Zumwinkel urged the German government and parliament to work vigorously to create fair competitive conditions for the full opening of the German and European postal market.
Zumwinkel said that in recent years Deutsche Post has done its homework, become one of the world's most modern postal companies and solidly positioned itself in international business. In the current situation the course is set for the functionality of Germany's postal service and the future of Deutsche Post, he said. Customers and employees should not be the ones to pay the price for these decisions, he said. Following the fundamental political decisions about privatization in 1989/90 and the initial public offering in 2000, the company is now facing a kind of "Postal Reform III," Zumwinkel said. Binding regulations for the long-term development of the sector must be introduced, the chairman said.
With regards to this, Zumwinkel spoke of three factors in the postal sector that would determine future developments.
Europe
The ideal parallel liberalization has in fact failed, Zumwinkel said. The now planned unequal and half-hearted opening of the market, a process that is characterized by broadly written exemptions for most member states, could become a major barrier to Deutsche Post's further competitive positioning, he added. "The single postal market with fair conditions has turned into a complete mess," he said. "Deutsche Post is a pioneer in Europe and now is being punished for it," Zumwinkel said.
Provision of universal service
Only Deutsche Post is willing and able to ensure the countrywide provision of postal services for the German population in the future, the CEO stressed. Unlike the vague forecasts made by the company's competitors, Deutsche Post will continue to be the only company that will provide reliable, country-wide and high-quality universal service in the long term. The exemption from the value-added tax, a benefit long anchored in German and EU law as compensation for basic postal services offered at prices that everyone can afford, is essential, he said. Any other approach would lead to a double-digit increase in rates for private customers because the introduction of the 19 percent value-added tax would require an equal increase in postal fares, Zumwinkel said.
Social standards
Once again, Zumwinkel said it is almost intolerable that new postal service providers employ their full-time workers on dumping wages. People cannot live from such wages. Thus they are forced to seek assistance from the government's unemployment program and contribute to the state's financial burden in the process, he said. The result: The complete slashing of social standards in the German postal market and thus unfair competition. The chairman called for the speedy introduction of a minimum wage in the postal sector and the proper application of regulations in the postal law when licenses are issued to postal service providers by the Federal Network Agency. Competition should be waged by offering quality of service and products and not by taking advantage of workers, he said.
"Unfair competition through low wages threatens 32,000 jobs at Deutsche Post," Zumwinkel said. "The postal sector needs to be reviewed as part of the current-wage law and specific minimum wages should be defined," he said.
