Author: Archive

Brazil Postal Service Goes on Strike. Workers Want USD 100 Plus 47 pct Raise

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

Starting today, post office branches throughout Brazil will be closed. Gathered in meetings in several states the workers at ECT (Brazilian Postal and Telegraph Company) decided to go on strike for undetermined time until their demands for bigger salaries and better work conditions are met.

José Gonçalves Jacó, the director of ECT’s Workers National Federation believes that 100,000 of the 110,000 postal workers will join the strikers. In the southern state of Paraná, for example, about 80pct of the ECT employees have already stopped their activities, according to the president of Paraná’s Post Office Workers Union, Nilson Rodrigues dos Santos.

In the negotiations round held Wednesday, September 12, informed Jacó, the ECT offered to hike wages by 3.74 pct, while the workers are asking for a 47 pct raise plus what they call “real wage hike” of 200 reais (about USD 100). In its counterproposal the postal service offered 50 reais (about USD 25), which will not be paid before January of next year.

Workers are demanding more than better wages. They also want maternity leave for six months and hazardous work supplement. “Today, mailmen endure a bigger incidence of skin cancer as well as dog attacks, assaults and other accidents,” justified the president of the Paraná’s union.

Maybe this is not the best time for the announcement, but the Brazilian Ministry of Communications made known that it is studying the opening of the capital of the national Postal Services as an alternative for modernizing and expanding the company. The information was given by the minister of Communications, Hélio Costa.

The minister submitted yesterday to the minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, the proposal for expansion of the Postal Service, of which, according to him, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was already aware.

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Pitney Bowes picks up French firm

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes Management Services International reports acquiring Asterion SAS for USD 33.2 million in cash.

The transaction also included France-based Asterion’s two subsidiaries, Asterion Sud and Asterion Direct. Pitney Bowes Management Services is a division of Pitney Bowes Inc.

Plans call for Asterion, which provides outsourced transactional print and document process services, to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes, continuing to operate under its existing management, officials said.

Asterion, which employs 740 workers, posted revenue of USD 88 million of revenue during 2006. Asterion employees are located at the company’s headquarters in St. Denis, France, and additional nine French facilities.

Pitney Bowes, founded in 1920, employs 35,000 workers. The company reported annual revenue of USD 5.7 billion in 2006.

Last week, Pitney Bowes formed a new software company by combining two of its acquisitions, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software and Pitney Bowes MapInfo.

Pitney Bowes acquired Maryland-based Group 1 Software Inc. in 2004 for about USD 321 million. In March, it acquired Troy, N.Y.-based MapInfo Corp. for USD 408 million.

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CityMail Sweden Plans Expansion

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

Mats Forbesberg, CEO, CityMail said the company plans to expand its network to ten additional cities including Uppsala, Västerås, Eskilstuna and parts of Tierp by April 2008.

The postal operator plans to increase its service to 60 pct of businesses and households in these areas within the next two to three years, and anticipates creation of 500 new jobs as a result of new business. Forbesberg said reasons for the growth include higher demands from its customers. CityMail currently has a market share of up to 40 pct in larger cities.

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Teplice becomes next city in DHL and PPL's new terminal and distribution network

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

DHL has opened another major distribution terminal in the Czech Republic with its partner PPL CZ, this time in Krupka near Teplice. The centre, which joins terminals in Plzen and Ceské Budejovice, will act as a hub for the distribution of shipments in the Ústí nad Labem and Liberec regions and parts of Central Bohemia. The construction of terminals forms part of a large project to integrate the DHL and PPL CZ terminal and distribution networks in the Czech Republic. The project will cost almost one billion Czech crowns.

The integration comes in response to ever growing shipment volumes and the need to constantly raise customer service standards. The goal is to create a network of ten main terminals over the coming three years. These terminals will form the backbone of a modern distribution system.

“The opening of the Teplice terminal will significantly help us to expand our capacity and allow us to raise service standards across all our products. Given the hub’s strategic position we also plan to leverage its great location and upgrade our transport links not only with our western neighbours, but worldwide, as DHL is building a new intercontinental hub in Leipzig, Germany,” adds Radek Odstrcil, DHL Express Operations Manager for the Czech Republic.

More terminals are to open in future years in Hradec Králové, Ostrava, Olomouc and Prague. DHL and PPL CZ expect the project to boost their competitiveness by streamlining shipment distribution. The range of products and services offered to customers will expand, and facilities will be modernised.

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La Poste Bank consolidate plans of development and sign new partnerships

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

The commercial activity during the first semester of 2007, confirm the dynamism in the bank retail market. La Poste Bank has produced good results in life insurance services, mortgages and the increasing number of active clients in the bank. La Poste Bank set up partnership with the main players of the market: – Mortages: La Poste Bank and Mamut decided to expand its partnership signed last 4 April 2007. After the success of the mortgages under this agreement, both companies launched a new range of mortgages in two more regions: Amiens and Rennes. – In the money market, La Poste Bank and the General Society Bank (“Société Générale”), one of the biggest and oldest bank in France”, are in negations to set up a partnership. Both groups are the most important players in the money market in France. Each company represent 11 pct of the total market of bank cards and each have around 5000 ATMs in all France. – In assets management, La Poste Bank has two new projects of subsidiaries: the first is the structure management and the second is in partnership with Ofi Asset Management. These projects show the commitment of the bank to consolidate its position in asset management. – Regarding the bank exclusion issue, La Poste Bank and CMP Bank signed a commercial and financial agreement in order to increase their service to the smaller clients. The agreement was signed on 13th September 2007. – In money transfer market, La Poste Bank is developing a project with Coripost Africa S.A., the services will include the networking of 25 African offices. – In the area of Micro-credit, La Poste Bank, obtained on 30th May the approval of the Social Funds Institution (Fonds de Cohésion Sociale) for the access of its funds. La Poste Bank initiated these activities in the Poitou-Charentes region, but it will expand in other regions. It is estimated a total of 2300 mortgages during the next years.

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UPS granted air rights to expand service to Japan

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

The U.S. Departments of State and Transportation today reached an agreement that will allow UPS and other air carriers to expand air operations to and from Japan.
The agreement provides UPS the authority to operate six daily flights between the U.S. and Nagoya, Japan, in addition to its daily service to Tokyo and Osaka. Nagoya, the fourth largest city in Japan, offers UPS significant opportunities to continue expanding its business in Asia. In addition, UPS will be able to connect these flights to its new air hub in Shanghai, China.
UPS has operated in Japan since 1987 and transitioned to a wholly owned international express delivery operation in 2004. The company’s operations cover 15 metropolitan areas, offering express delivery, customs brokerage and supply chain management services. UPS currently offers 47 weekly flights to and from Tokyo and Osaka.
Japan is one of the more than 40 countries and territories UPS serves in Asia. The company operates air hubs in Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines and will formally open its hub in Shanghai in 2008.

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Papu: Postal union for rural services

Posted by | Sep 13, 2007 | |

PAN African Postal Union (Papu) has urged postal service providers to concentrate on developing more operations in rural areas on the continent where there is little or no availability of advanced communication.

The appeal was made yesterday in Blantyre by Papu’s Assistant Secretary General Rhoda Masaviru during the official opening of the fourth African Support Committee to the organisation of the congress of Universal Postal Union (UPU) to be held in Kenya in 2008.

Masaviru said the success of the congress in Nairobi would depend on the strategies to be adopted on the current challenges that range from revenue, terminal dues to mail dispatch.

In her opening remarks Minister of Information Patricia Kaliati urged all participating countries to ensure that the agenda of the UPU congress reflects training for postal personnel including maximizing access to rural masses.

She added that the current meeting must come up with factual and practical objectives ahead of the meeting in Kenya that should see Africa making progress in the sector for the next four years after 2008.

Over 30 African countries that include Ghana, Nigeria Tanzania, Rwanda, Botswana, Zimbabwe are attending the meeting in Blantyre which is expected to wind up today.

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