The evolving regulatory function: responding to a constantly-changing marketplace
The evolving regulatory function: responding to a constantly-changing marketplace
Read MoreTag: Domestic
Facing up to Competition
Facing up to Competition
Read MorePakistan Post receives over 1,000 letters for contest
The Pakistan Post has received over 1,000 letters for “international letter writing contest” and the selection committee will soon finalise the letters to submit it to Universal Postal Union (UPU). Assistant Director International Post Manzoor Hussain Khattak told here on Monday that the international letters writing contest titled `Why tolerance and forbearance is compulsory for our world” will be held this year in Switzerland. He said that the main objective of the contest is to draw the attention of new generation towards writing letters.
The children with 15 years of age or less are eligible to participate in the contest and first three position holders in the country would get Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500 and Rs 5,000 cash prizes respectively. The participants have written the letters in Urdu and English languages and the selected letters from Pakistan will be sent to the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The selected letters must reach the UPU International Bureau before April 30.
He said the first three position holders would receive gold, silver, and copper medals and UPU post tickets albums. Complete letters of the participants having name, father’s name, age, class, picture, complete name of institute, address and telephone number, if any will be entertained, he added.
Read MoreCWU Cannot Reverse Pension Reform
The CWU ballot on Royal Mail pensions rolls on. I have more than a hunch that the CWU made a major blunder during the last pay deal talks and over the next few weeks, it will become abundantly clear that that is exactly what has happened.
Royal Mail gave the assurance to CWU leader Bill Hayes that workers opinions would be taken into account and the CWU would be consulted. Hayes interpretaion of that was that nothing would be pushed through without his and Dave Ward’s say so and the pair of them went off smiling, thinking everything was fine and they had set the pension apart from the pay deal. The pay deal was ratified with that impression.
The fact is, Royal Mail HAS consulted workers – it invited everyone to put forward their views and it has talked to the CWU. I’ll admit its not what the CWU thought would happen, but when this is presented to the Trustees, Royal Mail will in fact have met the meaning of the consultation process in full and it will probably be accepted on that basis. This is precisely what Hayes said in a recent circular to reps. It is peppered with bullet points and makes it plain that the CWU isn’t exactly happy abut the pension revision, but if you go through it, CWU HQ don’t appear to have any weight to object to this – other than a threat of upping their campaign – whatever that means.
Royal Mail will have consulted with some of the sharpest solicitors around and it is unlikely that the CWU will have matched that level of expertise. Whether it was down to limited finances or poor legal advisors on the CWU’s part is unimportant, but RM have never at any point said that they would let the CWU decide on how the pension issue shoud be solved – not in any official statement or even in the wording of the finalised pay deal.
We already have at least one example where last year, the CWU had to cover their tracks when the notice given of one bout of inustrial action did not comply with the law and Royal Mail were not only quick to pick up on it, they filed an injunction. The legal advisors that Royal Mail use are very hot on wording and small print and in my view, the CWU was in way out of its depth last year. We had a long phase of both sides refusing to budge until one particular meeting – after which the CWU suddenly changed its tune. You go figure that one, but chances are, Royal Mail laid out the figures that showed the whole picture in terms that Hayes and Ward could understand and they then realised that the strikes were not going to get them anywhere. The deal was closed fairly quickly after that.
Theres also the problem of lost business every time there is a strike. If workers decide to engage in one-day stoppages or head for picket lines, Royal Mail will lose more contracts through downstream access – not to mention the support of customers.
The CWU will continue to make lots of noise, as indeed it has to, but the most workers can expect is a small sweetener after private meetings between the CWU and RM bosses. Despite the talk of strikes, few workers see any merit in another and even if they did, it won’t change the need to restructure a pension scheme in massive debt. Royal Mail’s pension scheme isn’t the only one struggling and many have collapsed – few if any of those people will see their money again. Like the last deal, Hayes will do his best to find some small nugget to present to CWU members as evidence of victory but thats about all.
The hard-liners are tough enough to march enmasses with Burslem blowing in their hair, but Royal Mail isn’t the only operator out there now any more. It may be the biggest final mile service but it is already delivering mail for other companes at less profit – it really doesn’t take a genius to see that the trend will continue and at an even faster pace if workers opt to stand outside delivery offices doing nothing.
Things might have been very different if Royal Mail was the only mail handler operating in the UK but with new postal
Read MoreAustria Post 2007 EBIT up 32 pct
Austrian postal service Oesterreichische Post’s operating profit in 2007 was up 32 percent at 162.8 million euros (USD 251.9 million), in line with forecasts, it said on Tuesday.
Revenue was up 33 percent at 2.32 billion euros.
It said a major contribution to revenue growth was made by the consolidation of the trans-o-flex parcels and logistics operation acquired in 2006.
Analysts in a Reuters survey expected on average a 33 percent increase in 2007 sales to 2.3 billion euros and a 33 percent rise in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to 163.5 million euros.
The company itself forecast 2.2 billion euros sales and 160 million in EBIT.
Oesterreichische Post shares have outperformed the main ATX index by 30 percent so far this year.
It said it expected revenue in 2008 to be stable to slightly lower and EBIT to be slightly down on 2007.
The company proposed a dividend of 1.4 euros per share, up from 1.0 euro, and a special dividend of 1.0 euro.
It proposed a share buyback of up to 10 percent of its share capital over 18 months. The company has a market capitalisation of 1.77 billion euros.
Analysts had expected a rise in turnover because of acquisitions in letters and in logistics. The company said it made 10 acquisitions in 2007.
The loss of some big customers in the field of packages would only be reflected in this year’s numbers, they said. The company has already cut 360 jobs in its package distribution centres.
Oesterreichische Post expects its domestic parcel business to stay in the black next year despite the loss of two high-profile contracts, the company said in December.
German mail-order houses Quelle and Otto hired a competitor to deliver their parcels in Austria last year. As a consequence, the state-owned operator will close a third of its 21 parcel distribution centres to cut costs, it said.
Its logistics unit, which has acquired companies in Germany and central Europe and makes 75 percent of its revenue abroad, and its domestic parcel business will both post positive earnings before interest and tax next year, it said.
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