Deutsche Post to eliminate around 1,000 managerial posts

The German postal service Deutsche Post plans to
eliminate around 1,000 managerial posts in its courrier division and reduce
the number of regional depots by 40 percent, a spokesman said on Monday.

“The number of job cuts has not yet been determined with precision, but it
will be around 1,000″ over a two-and-a-half year period, a company
spokesperson told AFP.

The number of directors of regional sorting centers will be reduced on
January 1 from 83 to 49 in an initial step, with the number of centers
dropping by an identical amount in early 2004.

The number of lower-level employees will not be affected by the managerial
cuts, the spokesman said.

In July, the semi-public Deutsche Post announced that it would eliminate
around 3,000 delivery positions from a total of 80,000 in the next few years.

On August 21, the postal service said that its net profit fell by 3.81
percent in the second quarter of this year, but confirmed full-year sales and
profit targets.

The company had said it expected lower costs this year and confirmed its
ambition of becoming the world’s top logistics firm, following its takeover of
US air parcel delivery giant DHL International.

The group’s German monopoly on delivering letters, postcards and brochures
weighing up to 200 grams (5.5 ounces) was extended to the end of 2007 in a law
approved in July.

bur/wai/tm AFP ENGLISH, 27th August 2001