Tag: Europe

5000 postal workers wildcat in Glasgow

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Thousands of Glasgow postal workers walked out of delivery offices today in a dramatic escalation of industrial action.

Strike-hit Royal Mail was plunged into deeper chaos after 13 workers who had refused to cross a picket line were sent home and union officials claim up to 5000 colleagues walked out in support of them.

Around 1100 staff at the Glasgow Mail Centre in Springburn were already on official strike today and the wildcat action added to the disruption.

The Communications Workers Union claims a deal was offered to bosses who would have averted the unofficial action but it was rejected

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Latvian Post is most likely to have to raise prices

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Latvian Post(LP) will most probably have to raise the prices of its services, Latvian Transport Minister Ainars Slesers said on Tuesday.

LP will have to take several important decisions concerning the future development of the company. The minister said that he has a development plan to offer tot he company management, but he would like to see the plan developed by LP first. The minister said that he would meet LP management on Wednesday to discuss the action plan that the company will present concerning its further development.

“There are lots of post offices that make loss and will never make profit. The question is if the company has to sustain such branches? If they have to be sustained, the next question is — How?” said the minister, adding that the unprofitable post offices are sustained by the post workers. He admitted that press delivery price problem is the same, as these have not increased lately on the face of increasing costs.

Slesers said that a consideration should be given to the postal services to be subsidized by the government and the ones to be sustained by the company itself.

He said that the privatization of LP is not an issue at the moment. It is not planned and will not be allowed, but as postal liberalization is on the approach in the EU, possibly, decisions will have to be taken to attraction of private partnership to separate postal functions, not the post in general.

Slesers did not want to comment on the necessity of the resignation of Gints Skodovs, the head of LP.

Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis during a government session on Tuesday said that the salaries of the unprofitable offices and postal workers in general is the issue of the company management as the management of the company receives the salaries, which are among the highest in the country and, thus have to solve the crisis situation.

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Pitney Bowes makes money, cuts people

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Pitney Bowes reported an increase in revenues for the second quarter of 2007 on Monday while net income, which in the year-ago quarter showed up as a loss due to accounting for discontinued operations, moved into the black.

Because the quarter included an accounting alignment for MapInfo Corp., which Pitney Bowes bought for about USD 408 million in April, the company’s statement reported a variety of earnings, including adjusted and those from continuing operations.

“The natural extension of an address is its physical positioning,” which ties directly into Pitney Bowes’ software products, Martin said when asked by an analyst how MapInfo fits into the company. For the second quarter of 2007, Pitney Bowes reported net income — excluding discontinued operations — of USD 152 million, or 68 cents per diluted share, on revenues of USD 1.5 billion. In the year-ago period, Pitney Bowes reported a loss of USD 356 million, or USD 1.59 per diluted share, on revenues of nearly USD 1.4 billion.

The mid-level estimate by analysts polled by Thomson was 70 cents per share.

About two weeks ago, Pitney Bowes announced plans to lay off approximately 200 internal information technology workers, including approximately 96 in Danbury, 24 in Shelton and 12 in Stamford. The company is in the process of negotiating to move that internal work to Wipro Technologies. The workers would be moved over to Wipro where some would resume working on Pitney Bowes systems while others, after a transition period, might be offered other work within Wipro.According to documents Pitney Bowes supplied affected workers, the company will not pay severance to anyone refusing to make the move.

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Telecoms companies turn away GBP165 million a month by not accepting cash

Posted by | Jul 31, 2007 | |

Major telecoms companies could be losing over GBP165 million in revenue every month by failing to offer customers the option to pay in cash, reveals new research from the Post Office.

Almost six million UK households use cash or cheques to pay their bills, either through choice or lack of access to banking services. But many major telecoms companies – such as those offering combined broadband internet, telephone and digital TV packages – are excluding these people by limiting payment to direct debit only.

There are 2.8 million1 UK adults (1.9 million households) without a bank account who rely on cash payment methods to pay their bills. A further six million people with bank accounts (four million households) actually prefer to choose cash over direct debit when paying their bills.2 Combined, these people represent 14.6 per cent3 of the UK population.

With an average monthly telecom and entertainment package subscription costing GBP28 per month4, this equates to a potential GBP165.2 million in lost sales per month for businesses who fail to accept cash or cheques.

Post Office marketing director Gary Hockey-Morley said: “Failing to offer a cash payment channel means that businesses are restricting the size of their potential market, with some telecoms companies ignoring customers worth over GBP165 million per month.

“With 14,000 branches across the UK, and 99 per cent of people living within three miles of a branch, the Post Office offers an easy route to bill payment services for people who choose to pay their bills in cash and can also ensure that companies are socially inclusive in offering their services to people without bank accounts.”

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TNT CEO calls for equal treatment of postal services in Germany

Posted by | Jul 30, 2007 | |

TNT NV said Deutsche Post should lose its VAT exemption to enable all postal services in Germany to compete on an equal footing, said TNT’s chief executive Peter Bakker.

In an interview with news agency dpa, Bakker also called for full liberalization of postal services in Germany by early 2008, when TNT plans to increase its offering to letters below 50 grams.

The company plans to increase its market penetration to 40 pct of German households during 2008 from the current 20 pct, he added.

The EU last week asked Germany, among other countries, to change its legislation of VAT exemption for mail delivery charges, which is not compatible with an EU VAT directive.

Earlier press reports had suggested the German government was contemplating extending the preferential VAT treatment to Deutsche Post’s competitors.

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