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Royal Mail faces further strikes

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

Postal workers threatened to stage further strikes by the end of the month unless a bitter row over pay and conditions is resolved.

As the Communication Workers Union announced the move and the Royal Mail vowed to press on with its modernization plans, Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, held out the prospect of coordinated industrial action in the months to come.

Mr. Barber said unions would be brought together under the umbrella of the TUC’s public service liaison committee and said that the government would pay “a heavy price” if it did not pay attention to the warnings. With more than 2m public sector workers in dispute over pay and job threats it is understood the committee will meet shortly.

Royal Mail said that it could “no longer delay the next steps in modernizing the business to enable it to compete on an equal footing with other operators and will now begin to make the changes which have been discussed with our people and our trade unions for many months”. The CWU claims that up to 40,000 jobs could be lost as a result of the proposals.

The union said that there had been “significant progress” in areas such as pay but Royal Mail had refused to budge on its pension proposals which would mean closing the existing scheme to new employees, raising employee contributions and increasing the retirement age.

There was also disagreement over the start time for early shifts which could reduce earnings of some workers by up to Pounds 25 a week. According to the union, Royal Mail was offering a two-year deal worth 6.7 per cent compared with its previous one-year offer worth 2.5 per cent.

Royal Mail said it had offered CWU both a short-term resolution to the dispute within the amount available for pays this year, as well as a longer-term solution “which we believe is in the interests of all our people and the business”.

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Royal Mail is being pushed too hard

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

With regard to recent industrial action by Royal Mail postal workers, although this probably lost the company some business, I think it needs to be seen in a wider context than a pay rise.

The Blair government supposedly gained agreement for a European free market with mail services but this is not being complied with by other European countries.

Successive governments have creamed off money from the Royal Mail rather than allowing this to be used for modernization.

The present management has proposed a worker shareholder partnership but the Government has refused it.

While other mail firms can cherry pick the more lucrative business deals leaving Royal Mail with the least profitable ones, yet the Government insists on a flat rate stamp regardless of distance.

Although postal workers deliver for rival businesses there is no reciprocal arrangement. The situation is therefore not a “level playing field”.

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EU court rejects courier complaint on French Aid

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

A European Union court Wednesday rejected complaints from international courier companies who claimed that French state-owned postal services company La Poste unfairly subsidizes its own courier express operation.

The ruling is part of a larger struggle that sees E.U. antitrust authorities and private companies trying to pry open Europe’s monopoly-controlled postal markets while still respecting E.U. rules that allow for government funding of national postal companies serving unprofitable areas. La Poste is one such company.

The case goes back to 1990, when the Union Francaise de L’Express or Ufex, Deutsche Post AG’s, DHL International, FedEx Corp’s Federal Express International France SNC and Service CRIE all complained to E.U. competition authorities that La Poste unit Societe Francaise de Messagerie Internationale – now Chronopost – was receiving unfair competitive advantages over the rest through its state-funded parent company. These alleged advantages include receiving logistical and commercial assistance on “unusually favorable terms.”

The European Commission rejected this complaint, saying that since the matter concerned competition on the French market, it wasn’t an E.U. matter. The courier companies tried to have this decision overturned, but were spurned again in 2004 when their arguments were once again rejected.

The courier companies then went to Europe’s second-highest court, the Court of First Instance, to try and have the commission’s decision annulled. The court Wednesday ruled simply that the commission’s initial decision was correct.

The courier companies may now appeal the ruling to Europe’s highest court, the Court of High Justice.

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Japan: Postal privatization blueprint approved

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

The government has given the green light to a blueprint submitted earlier this year by Japan Post Corp. for privatizing postal services.

Monday’s approval was the government’s final endorsement of the 10-year privatization process beginning Oct. 1, when postal services will be split into four stock firms — savings, insurance, mail and over-the-counter services — under Japan Post, which will turn into their holding company.

The blueprint, submitted to the government in late April, includes the list of assets and employees Japan Post will take over from the public postal corporation that currently runs postal operations.

The blueprint outlines some new businesses planned for the privatized entities. Among them is letting the postal savings bank act as a sales agent for regional banks for their housing-loan products.

The bank and life insurance industries have voiced concerns about the postal financial institutions expanding operations, saying they could threaten them.

Masayuki Oku, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, released a statement Monday saying he regrets that the approved blueprint “fails to contain any specific plan for scaling down postal savings.”

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Malta Post: Third past the post

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

Malta has just joined Germany and the Netherlands as the third EU member state to fully privatise the postal service.

Privatization has always been something of a hot potato in Malta: more so in the case of the national postal service, whose previous partial privatization resulted in a nosedive in service standards and a disaster for consumers.

So it is surprising that support for the company’s total privatization now comes from the same trade union which in the past had wrestled with former major shareholders, New Zealand company Transend.

Union Haddiema Maqghudin general secretary Gejtu Vella thinks that the total privatization of MaltaPost will bring to an end a “10-year trauma” for postal workers.

Vella regrets that MaltaPost had to pass from a turbulent decade in which it was first turned in to a public company in the mid 1990s, only to revert to a government department in 1998 and to be partially privatized in 2002 when New Zealend state company Transend bought an equity share.

The UHM, which went on the warpath when Transend tried to downsize the number of postal workers, is satisfied by the job guarantee given by Maltapost’s new owners. Maltapost has now promised not to dismiss any worker except for disciplinary proceedures and normal retirement.

Vella attributes the difficulties facing the postal sector worldwide to the arrival of the internet.

Gejtu Vella is also confident that the involvement of a reputable bank will ensure that the new company will survive the European-wide liberalization of the sector in 2010.

Although the EU commission wants the sector to be liberalized by that date, the EU does not impose the privatization of postal services, which are still deemed an essential service.

Postal services in Europe remain largely in public hands, although there has been a movement towards the liberalization of these services with the United Kingdom and social democratic Sweden taking the lead.

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Brazilian government looks at opening capital of the Postal Service

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

The Brazilian Ministry of Communications is studying the opening of the capital of the national Postal Services as an alternative for modernizing and expanding the company, as informed today (12 september) by the minister of Communications, Hélio Costa.

The minister submitted today 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.

According to the minister, the establishment of a large logistics company, linked to the state-owned one, would be another alternative for catering to the “huge demand” in the order delivery market. “We are forecasting an increase of over 100 pct for next year. Either the Postal Services will prepare itself, or it will end up losing this market,” he stated.

Another proposal would be the restructuring of the Postal Bank, which currently functions in partnership with privately owned bank Bradesco. According to Hélio Costa, the bank has 5,200 branches, around 5,000 accounts are opened per day, and 10 billion Brazilian reais (USD 5.1 billion) are deposited.

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EU to examine all German subsidies to Deutsche Post in new state aid probe

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

EU regulators will investigate the German state subsidies of Deutsche Post, once the state-owned postal service, to determine if it bolstered commercial operations with public money, the European Union said Wednesday.

The EU’s executive arm said rivals had complained that Deutsche Post AG used government money to undercut the private sector by selling services “too cheaply” to banking arm Postbank and parcel service DHL – one of the world’s three biggest delivery companies.

Deutsche Post immediately denied any illegal subsidies, calling the investigation “surprising and completely incomprehensible.” Deutsche Post said regulators have reviewed company accounts numerous times.

In Berlin, Finance Ministry spokesman Torsten Albig said the investigation had been expected and expressed confidence the Commission would clear the company in end.

The new investigation comes on top of the EU’s 2002 order for Deutsche Post to repay the German government 572 million euros (USD 791 million) in public money that the company had used to finance a rebate pricing policy for its door-to-door parcel business.
Governments usually pay postal operators to run the costly mail delivery service for the country, but they are forbidden from using the money for other services.

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Citibank, Vietnam postal savings firm in tie-up

Posted by | Sep 12, 2007 | |

Citibank signed a deal Tuesday with a subsidiary of the state-run Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group to provide local clients a range of banking products.
The deal will allow both corporate and individual clients of Vietnam Postal Savings Service Company make payments and transfers to firms banking with the US bank.

They can also carry out personal transactions like paying school and hospital bills using Citibank fund transfers and checks.

Citibank general director Charly Madan said there were plans to introduce an additional 800 desks to provide banking services in the country, adding that figure should eventually rise to 2000.

Citibank has branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and a nationwide partnership network that covers all of Vietnam’s 64 provinces.

The bank offers a wide range of banking services, including currency transactions, hedging, cash management including access to ATMs, trade services, short and medium-term loans in foreign currency and Vietnamese dong to state-owned enterprises, multinationals, financial institutions and private sector borrowers.

Citibank has recently launched its maiden domestic offering in the Vietnamese debt market, expecting it will help expand and develop the local long-term debt market.

The inaugural issue was a VND 400 billion (USD 22 million) floating rate issue with a tenor of two years and one day.

The issue marks the debut long-term negotiable certificate of deposit to be issued in Vietnamese dong. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The coupon resets every six months and will pay at a specified spread over a benchmark rate set by the bank. The issue is being targeted at local investors.

Citibank is a regular issuer in Asia’s debt markets, having issued in Hong Kong dollars, Singapore dollars and Thai baht in recent years.

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