Industrial relations in the postal sector — France
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This is the French contribution to the comparative analytical overview on Industrial relations in the postal sector.
1. The postal sector in general: basic data and trends
Keeping in mind the postal sector in its more general and inclusive definition (that is including any kind of services provided by postal operators, such as financial or insurance services), please indicate:
a) Current structure and services in the sector
1. The current structure of the sector in its broader definition: which is the range of services provided by postal operators? Has some kind of functional specialisation between providers been introduced?
The postal sector in France is still mainly dominated by the historical operator, La Poste, which:
- employs 303,000 people (figure for 2005), thus making it the company, which is the biggest employer in the French economy; and
- has an extremely well-developed network with 17,000 contact points with the public, including 13,442 post offices and local contact points at the end of 2005 spread throughout the country.
The La Poste group is composed of 4 types of activity, called ‘occupations’ (Métiers), namely:
- Mail, which accounts for 58% of La Poste’s turnover and is the oldest activity, but is now stagnating because of the competition coming from the use of messaging services (messageries) and the Internet.
- Postal bank (la banque postale), which accounts for 23% of turnover and is increasing moderately. The postal bank was created on 1 January 2005 and has the status of a banking institution in the competitive banking and insurance sector. Previously, La Poste had an occupation called ‘financial services’, which did not have the status of a bank and could not offer certain important banking services, such as mortgages without prior savings, which is of particular interest for young people. La Poste’s financial services had clients, who were either ‘poor’ (on very low income) – La Poste was the only company which would open an account for everyone who asks for one, however little their savings, and was also legally authorised to open savings accounts – or ageing. The creation of the postal bank corresponds to La Poste’s desire to have ‘a bank like the others’, which is competitive compared with private banks, and also to attract young people
- Parcel post, which accounts for about 15% of turnover, is an activity, which is rapidly increasing in a sector that is becoming highly internationalised and, within La Poste, has been almost completely separated from mail, in order to offer a specific parcel service that is in growing competition with American, German and Dutch companies.
- La Poste Grand Public is a new occupation, which was created in November 2004 and includes all the post offices and local contact points with the general public (grand public) (i.e. individuals and small companies).
This occupation has a twofold function:
- on the one hand, it offers the services and products of the other three occupations, and
- on the other, it sells its own services to the general public – the nature of these services is gradually being defined and can include being the relay for other public service companies (such as the sale of train tickets) and also market services proposed by the big private distribution companies.
It should be emphasised that although the La Poste group is still officially a public service company, which is closely linked to the State, 70% of its turnover is already made in competitive conditions.
2. The number and characteristics of companies operating in the sector at large, distinguishing them according to their size, legal and property status (state-owned/ public limited/ private companies, etc.), the kind of services provided, their market share.
As already mentioned (see the previous point, 1.1), La Poste is structured around 4 occupations with a tendency for each of them to be increasingly separate from each other and autonomous. It is impossible, for legal reasons, to indicate how La Poste’s 300,000 employees are distributed between the 4 occupations, for the following reason in particular – the great majority of the postal bank’s employees, who are called ‘financial advisors’, are legally and hierarchically attached to post offices (and therefore La Poste Grand Public), whereas they actually work for the postal bank (their pay is reimbursed by the latter in line with the work they do). It is possible to calculate that about half of the staff works for the mail and the other half for La Poste Grand Public and the postal bank, while about 10,000 work for the parcel post.
b) Trends and developments in the sector since 1980s
3. If and when there have been legislative reforms affecting the traditional postal services sector since the 1980s and the main impact of these changes.
4. If and when the sector has been involved in liberalisation processes putting an end to monopoly positions since the 1980s and the main impact of these processes.
The La Poste group became an independent public company in 1991. Formerly it was an administration that depended on the Postal and Telecommunications Ministry. The law adopted on 2 July 1990 on the organisation of the postal and telecommunications public service led to a change in status for La Poste that gave it the status of independent company from 1 January 1991 onwards, but, unlike the Telecommunications company (France Télécom), La Poste’s status has not changed since. La Poste still falls under the supervision of the Minister for Industry, i.e. the State. The relationship between La Poste and the Ministry take the ‘classic’ form of a plan-related contract (contrat de plan), which is signed for 4 years. The most recent one is called ‘Performance and convergence contract’. It was proposed by Jean-Paul Bailly, who had become chairman and managing director of La Poste (appointed by the French government), and was signed on 13 January 2004. It sets out major policy lines for the group through to 2007.
The original feature of La Poste – which also means it is difficult to manage - is that it is still directly dependent on the State, although it mainly operates in competitive conditions and has to ensure that it is profitable and provide its own investment
As a result of European directives, La Poste is coming to the end of its public service monopoly (which only exists now for mail) with complete opening up to competition. An initial stage of liberalising the mail sector occurred on 1 January 2006, when the only part of the service to remain in the ‘reserved sector’, i.e., as a public service monopoly, was mail weighing 50 grams or less and costing less than two and a half times the basic rate. Total liberalisation is due on 1 January 2009.
The real situation regarding mail is such that La Poste does not have to fear strong competition for distributing normal mail throughout the country, as it is difficult to see how a private company could invest in setting up a network of post offices and sorting centres as big and all-embracing as that of La Poste. However, private companies are beginning to be competitive for sending letters within big towns, and especially mail between companies. La Poste runs the risk of losing some of this market.
5. The evolution of employment in the sector, globally and according to the main relevant subdivisions in which the sector is articulated, since the mid-90s and the expected future prospects.
6. Any relevant other change affecting the industrial relations in the sector.
In the area of employment, la Poste has undergone two major changes since 1991 (the year when it became an autonomous company):
- it has slowly, but surely, reduced recruitment of civil servants, in order to concentrate recruitment of staff on private contracts. For about 3 years already, it has totally stopped civil service entrance exams and only recruits what it calls ‘employees’ (as distinct from those with civil service status);
- at the same time, and contrary to private sector employment policies, it has reduced the number of short-term contracts (fixed-term contracts and temporary agency staff) in the interest of promoting (‘normal’) open-ended contracts, that come under labour law rules.
Currently, more than a third of staff is composed of ‘employees’ and thus less than two-thirds are civil servants. Given the number of people retiring – of whom there will be many in the next few years – and recruitment policy, one can conclude that the majority of staff will soon be private sector employees.
An obvious result is that the great majority of young employees have private contracts, thus generating tension with the ‘old’ staff, who have civil service status. The young people have a feeling of unfairness, especially because they have been recruited for the least skilled jobs with lowest pay and whose careers are blocked by those with civil service status (as they have priority regarding promotion).
There have been few staff cuts in recent years and overall staff numbers remain relatively stable, being affected (only) by a slight, but continuous, reduction. But we are beginning to enter a period of significant reduction of overall staff numbers, especially as a result of automation (namely, automation of sorting offices and the introduction of machines in post offices selling stamps or labels for sending letters). This will be one of La Poste’s problems in future years, but will be attenuated by the large numbers of people retiring and also because it remains a sector which ‘consumes’ a lots of labour throughout the country.
2. The mail services sector: structure and change
Focusing now on the core business of the postal sector (that is on the activities related to the collection, classification, transport and distribution of postal items, NACE 64.1, rev. 1.1 2002), NCs should provide a brief account of the present situation of the sector and of any recent changes which have affected it. In particular, please illustrate:
1. If and when the sector has been involved in privatisation processes or in the contractualisation of employment relationships (that is the shift from public law employment contracts to private law employment contracts and collective bargaining coverage) since the 1980s and the main impact of these processes.
2. If and when the sector has been involved in restructuring processes (offices closures, automation, reorganisation of production, outsourcing and contracting out, etc.) since the 1980s and the main consequences of these processes on employment (redundancies, recourse to different kind of contracts, etc.) and on work organisation (changes in the skills levels required, training; recourse to functional flexibility, longer operating hours, shift work, etc.).
One of the issues, which is greatly discussed in France, is that of the reduction in the number of post offices. La Poste is caught between three imperatives and opportunities:
- reducing costs of its network (the 17,000 contact points constitute the biggest network of all French companies and administrations), given very little State help to reduce the impact of cost on profitability and thus the company’s ability to invest (the only help that exists is the so-called town and country planning subsidy, but it is very small compared with the real costs of maintaining the network). This situation pushes it to reducing the number of contact points with the public;
- meeting political demands coming from local politicians (mayors of small towns and rural département councils) and M.P.s, who want to keep ‘postal presence’ everywhere in France; and finally
- taking advantage of an opportunity, namely the size of the network as a competitive advantage over competitors, especially in the banking sector.
Currently, La Poste’s group management has officially committed itself to keeping the 17,000 contact points, mainly as a result of political pressure and at the request of the State. However, in fact, the number of ‘real’ post offices with staff paid for by La Poste is gradually decreasing. The aim is to drop to about 9,500 post offices and annexes. Other contact points are gradually being created, either by ‘postal relays’ in cafés or supermarkets, or by postal agencies, which sell La Poste’s products and services, but whose staff are paid for by local authorities.
It would thus be possible to say that there are still 17,000 contact points, but at less expense to La Poste and with fewer employees of the company.
Moreover, as we have seen, in order to make its network ‘profitable’, La Poste is beginning to sell new, non-postal services. This is an important aspect of its strategy for the future.
3. The current structure of the mail services sector: the number and characteristics of companies operating in the sector, distinguishing them according to their size, legal and property status (state-owned/ public limited/ private companies, etc.), the kind of services provided, their market share.
The French regulating authority for postal services was created by the 20 May 2005 law (see point 2.7), in order to establish the Authority for regulating electronic communications and postal services (Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes, ARCEP). It only started awarding accreditation for private operators in 2006. In February 2007, we do not have precise data and information on current operators in the area of activity, in line with the NACE definition.
| Operator’s name | Date of ARCEP’s authorisation | Authorised activity | Legal status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrexo | 13 June 2006 | Alterative national domestic mail service | Private limited liability company |
| Althus | 7 September 2006 | Local domestic mail service (Savoie) | Private limited liability company |
| Stamper’s | 7 September 2006 | Creation of a local domestic mail service (Pau) | Private limited liability company |
| La Poste | 26 October 2006 | National domestic correspondence mail service (besides the reserved sector) | Public group with subsidiaries that are private limited liability companies |
| Solgeco 26 | 5 December 2006 | Creation of a local domestic mail service (Valence) | Private limited liability company |
| IMX France | 21 June 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Private limited liability company |
| Deutsche Post | 29 June 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Nd / Na |
| Swiss Post International France | 1 September 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Nd / Na |
| La Poste – Courrier International | 26 October 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Public group with subsidiaries which are private limited liability companies |
| G3 Worldwide France | 5 December 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Private limited liability company |
| De Post – La Poste | 5 December 2006 | International correspondence mail service | Private limited liability company |
Source: ARCEP
4. The sectoral employment levels and developments (possibly broken down by gender, education and skill level) since the mid-90s.
Given the recent nature of the new operators in the postal sector, we only really have information on the La Poste group, which currently represents more than two thirds of employees in this sector.
Within the La Poste group, it is not possible to provide data on developments regarding qualifications and gender for identical types of activity since themed-1990s, because there have been major changes.
Nevertheless, in 2007, a little more than 50% of staff with civil service status and employees of the La Poste group are women (compared with 38.8% in 1990 and 49.3% of those recruited in 2003).
In activities and occupations where women currently account for less than 50% of staff, their number has not ceased to grow as it has increased by 13.5% in mail and 16.7% in parcels in 2005.
Given its various occupations, La Poste recruits and enables employees to obtain diplomas ranging from the lowest level Certificate of Vocational Aptitude (Certificat d’aptitude professionnel, CAP) to Masters (5 years’ higher education).
The main diplomas required for the various positions:
- Postman: CAP;
- Counter staff and client relations manager in financial centres: baccalaureate with a financial services specialisation (baccalauréat mention services financiers);
- Financial advisor: Higher technical diploma in sales, marketing and banking (Brevet de technicien supérieur, BTS force de vente, action commerciale, banque) or Technical university diploma in marketing techniques (Diplôme Universitaire Technique, DUT techniques de commercialisation) (2 years’ higher education);
- Computer technician: DUT in computing or DUT in electrical engineering and industrial computing (2 years’ higher education);
- Head of establishment: Masters (maîtrise) in management (4 years’ higher education);
- Senior professional and managerial staffs: Masters (Master) or the Graduate specialised diploma (Diplôme d’études supérieures, DESS), business schools, production engineers, human resources and accountancy experts (5 years’ higher education).
5. The legal status of employees.
Within the La Poste group, employees:
- either have civil service status or are contractual staff,
- or are employees with private sector status (see point 1.6).
Employees of other operators in the postal sector have private sector status with open-ended or fixed-term contracts.
6. The sectoral pay levels and developments compared to national averages, inflation and productivity growth (distinguishing between public and private operators) since the mid-90s.
For those with civil service status, pay has developed in the same way as for all State civil servants (FR0603029I), (FR0505101N).
For contractual staff and employees of La Poste, the June 2005 agreement provided for:
- in 2004, 1% for all staff and 3.3% for those at the bottom of the scale;
- in 2005, 1% on 1 July 2005;
- in 2006, 0.4% on 1 January 2006.
Over the last decade, average annual inflation was 1.6%, while La Poste’s productivity increased by an annual average of 1.6%, according to a parliamentary report in 2002, as a result of modernised production methods.
7. The presence of any regulatory authorities or agencies with a brief explanation of their entitlements (price setting, issue of licenses, etc.).
The French authority for regulating postal activities was created by the May 2005 law and replaced the Authority for Regulating Telecommunications (Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications, ART), which had been created by the 1996 law for regulating the telecommunications sector.
Thus, in 2005, the ART became the Authority for regulating electronic communications and postal services (Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes, ARCEP) with the following functions:
The regulation of postal activities aimed at reconciling the existence and feasibility of a universal postal service with the gradual introduction of competition in the market of sending correspondence. The ARCEP takes on board postal regulation via:
- Awarding authorisation and implementing the relevant rights and duties. The law installs a system of authorisations in the market of sending internal correspondence, including distribution, and also in the market of cross-border correspondence. This system has created a framework of rights and duties for operators in these markets. A decree is due to define the rules for implementing this system of authorisations.
- Monitoring the universal service provided by La Poste and especially performance regarding quality of service. The ARCEP monitors respect for the quality targets of the universal service, as set down in a ministerial order published by the Minister who is responsible for postal services, in line with rules established in the decree. The ARCEP commissions an independent body to make an annual study of service quality and publishes its results.
- Controlling accounts and rates of the universal service provider. In order to implement principles of separation and transparency of accounts, and especially in order to guarantee the conditions for funding the universal service, the ARCEP defines rules for entering costs, establishes specifications for accounting systems and monitors respect by the universal service provider of obligations related to cost accounting as set out in the decree. It organises annual verification of the conformity of the accounts of the universal service provider with the rules it has established by a competent and independent body which it itself authorises – at the universal service provider’s expense.
The ARCEP is also consulted on proposals for law and rules concerning the postal sector and is associated with the preparation of the French position in European and international negotiations and working groups.
The ARCEP also gives a public opinion on the economic aspects of rates for services offered to the press in terms of the public transport and distribution of the press, before they are approved by the Ministers responsible for postal services and the economy.
8. The involvement of the social partners in the sectoral regulatory framework (social partners’ representatives sitting in observatories, committees which oversee the management and developments of public utilities, etc).
The ARCEP’s decisions are subjected to many controls, but until now, there is no provision for directly associating the social partners in its activities apart from indirect consultation within other commissions, because in the area of regulating decisions, the following is provided for:
- parliamentary control: the ARCEP submits an annual report of its activities to the government and parliament. The regulator reports to permanent parliamentary commissions. The ARCEP has regular relations with the Minister responsible for telecommunication, the Higher Commission of the Public Postal and Electronic Communications (Service Commission Supérieure du Service Public des Postes et des Communications Electroniques, CSSPPCE) and the Council for Competition (Conseil de la concurrence);
- judicial control: the ARCEP’s decisions can be challenged by appealing to the Paris appeal court (Cour d’appel de Paris) (regarding decisions concerning settling disagreements) or the Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’état) (regarding decisions concerning penalties and sanctions);
- control by the European Commission.
9. Any other feature important to seize the peculiarities and the main problems to be solved in the sector.
See point under Commentary by the NC.
3. Industrial relations in the mail service sector
Continuing to concentrate on the core businesses of the postal sector (NACE 64.1, rev. 1.1 2002), NCs should provide an overview of industrial relations in the mail service sector. In particular, please indicate:
1. Possible limitations or peculiarities with respect to the right to association, collective bargaining and strike.
There are no peculiarities or limitations on the collective rights in the postal sector that are less favourable than those laid down for civil servants or in the law and the Labour Code (Code du Travail) for those with private contracts.
On 21 June 2004, La Poste’s management and the trade unions in the postal sector affiliated to the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (Confédération française démocratique du travail), the French Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff – General Confederation of Professional and Managerial Staff (Confédération française de l’encadrement – confédération générale des cadres, CFE-CGC), the French Christian Workers’ Confederation (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) and the General Confederation of Labour – Force ouvrière (Confédération générale du travail – Force ouvrière, CGT-FO) signed an agreement on the principles and methods of the social dialogue at La Poste.
2. The structure of trade union representation: number and characteristics of the unions which operate in the sector, union density. In particular: is union representation fragmented? Are there rivalries between the trade unions? Are there differences between public and private operators?
We do not have information just for the La Poste group, which recognises 7 unions at national level:
- The five postal sector unions affiliated to the confederations, CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC, the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) and CGT-FO;
- 2 postal unions, the independent Solidarity, Unity, Democracy (Solidaire, Unitaire, Démocratique, SUD) and the National Federation of Independent Unions (Union nationale des syndicats autonomes, UNSA), whose national representativeness in this sector was recognised respectively by a Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d'Etat) order on 2 July 1993 and an order of the administrative court (tribunal administrative) on 17 November 2005.
Within the La Poste group, the 4 unions, which signed the June 2004 agreement (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT-FO), are those that sign the most agreements, whereas the CGT and SUD are significantly less inclined to do so.
Before new elections of representatives of postal workers depending on public law and those depending on private law throughout the La Poste group and after those of 2000 in the joint administrative committees (commissions administratives paritaires, CAP) and the employer-unions technical committee (comité technique paritaire, CTP) (FR0011106F), (FR0301107F).
The results of postal worker elections in 2004 – with an 84.2% participation rate – were as follows:
- CGT: 34,81% of the votes (compared with 33,44% in 2000)
- SUD: 21,02% (18,72% in 2000)
- CGT-FO: 18,08% (17,53% in 2000)
- CFDT: 16,15% (17,42% in 2000)
- CFTC: 5,11% (4,73%)
- UNSA: 3% (1,09%)
- CFE-CGC: 1,84% (1,67% in 2000)
In the La Poste group, there are national elections and also elections by occupation and local ones.
It is, therefore, not possible to go into all the different aspects here and it is impossible to differentiate between the public entity, La Poste, and all the main private subsidiaries of the group, which include:
- 14 subsidiaries grouped together in the SOFIPOST holding;
- 7 subsidiaries in GEOPOST, and
- 6 subsidiaries of the Postal Bank.
Within each of these private entities, there are elections for various employee representative bodies provided for by the law: the hygiene, safety and working conditions committee (comité d’hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de travail, CHSCT) - generally translated as workplace health and safety committee; the works council (Comité d'établissement, CE) and there is also a group-level works council (comité de groupe).
3. The structure of employer representation: are there sectoral employer/trade associations? What is the number of companies affiliated to these associations, and the number of employees of the affiliated companies? Has there been any major reorganisation of employers’ associations as a consequence of the changes affecting the sector?
Since 1 December 2006, there is an employer’s postal sector chamber [in French] (chambre patronale du secteur postal), chaired by the chairman of the La Poste group, Jean-Paul Bailly. All the private postal operators (see point and table 2.3) are members or have said they will join.
As this new body has only recently been created, no other information is available.
4. The structure of collective bargaining: at what level are collective agreements concluded? National/sectoral? Decentralised? Both, with different scope? Other? Are there differences between public and private operators?
The June 2004 agreement (see point 3.4) organises social dialogue within the La Poste group, while the employers’ postal sector chamber (see point 3.4) has not yet made any initiatives in the area of collective bargaining. Also, in all the private companies, there are company agreements governing industrial relations.
Within the La Poste group, draft agreements on a hierarchy for negotiations are envisaged – depending on the topics covered - they can be national, sector-level, in terms of occupation or decentralised or local.
Negotiations on general agreements, such as regarding pay and working time, up until now have been carried out at national level, but can lead to follow-up negotiations at local level on working time, for example,
5. The coverage of collective bargaining in terms of companies and employees. Are there non-union companies or cases of opting out from employers’ association and multi-employer bargaining? Other? Are there differences between public and private operators?
Within the La Poste group, coverage is 100%.
6. Issues dealt with in collective bargaining: working time, training and career developments, equal opportunities, performance-related pay, conciliation between work and personal life, others. Are there differences between public and private operators.
Research does not enable us to answer the question regarding differences between public and private operators. However, within the La Poste group – because of the different status of public and private staff – there are sometimes differences, notably regarding pay and, for a few months, regarding working time: for example, the 17 February 1999 agreement on the 35-hour week was applicable in the 17,000 workplaces with 307,000 employees, who did not yet have a 35-hour week (FR9902158N).
Agreements signed within the La Poste group in recent years have also concerned the following topics:
- 28 April 2004, on an undertaking for the period 2004-2007 to promote the employment of the disabled and of those who are unfit for their position;
- 3 November 2004, on reducing job insecurity by not imposing more part-time work and by transforming the 10,000 fixed-term contracts into open-ended ones between 2004 and 2006;
- 15 December 2004, on the occupational development of staff with La Poste’s general public (post office and contact points) network;
- 21 February 2005, on the implementation of the Individual Right to Training (droit individual à la formation, DIF).
- 4 April 2005, on occupational equality;
- 20 December 2005, on promoting the occupation of counter staff and improving working conditions;
- 22 June 2006, on occupational promotion based on skills and qualifications management;
- 19 January 2007, on career development.
7. The impact of outsourcing/contracting out on collective bargaining coverage and working conditions.
No information.
8. The recourse to industrial conflict: data on number of strikes, worker participation and day lost over the last decade. Has recourse to conflict intensified as a consequence of the changes affecting the sector? Are there conflict resolution practices specific to the sector or to individual companies? Are there differences between public and private operators?
Over the past decade the number of collective disputes has declined (FR0508108T). This is also the case in the postal sector, where they have both declined (FR0501102F) and taken various forms (FR0405105F); (FR0202102N) with local disputes (FR0005160N).
It is not possible to correlate this with the June 2004 agreement on social dialogue, but it is also not possible, on the one hand, to exclude any such correlation, nor, on the other, to indicate possible differences between public and private operators.
9. The presence of participatory practices at workplace level, either through the involvement of employees’ representatives or trade unions, or the implementation of direct participation. Instances of financial participation (ESOP). Are there differences between public and private operators?
Since 1991, employees have 7 elected employee representatives on the board of directors of the La Poste group in an experimental context. Since the last election in 2005, they are composed of 3 CGT, 2 SUD and 1 CGT-FO members and 1 CFDT for professional and managerial staffs.
Twice a year, discussions are also held between La Poste’s management and the unions in La Poste’s Strategic Discussion Commission (Commission d’échange stratégique de La Poste, CESP). They concern the group’s policies.
Within the group, there are several savings schemes for employees, including:
- a company savings scheme (plan d’épargne d’entreprise, PEE);
- a collective pension savings plan (Plan d’épargne retraite collectif, PERCO);
- a group savings scheme (plan d’épargne groupe, PEG).
10. Any instances of social dialogue at sectoral level, like the conclusion of agreements or the presence of tri- bipartite bodies concerned with employment and labour relations issues.
See point 3.2 and point 3.6.
Within La Poste, validation of signed agreements is based on the principle of non-opposition from majority unions, as every agreement that is signed by one union is valid, provided the other union(s), which represent more than 50% of the employees in the elections, do not use their right of opposition.
11. The membership of national actors in European-level cross-industry and sectoral organisations.
On the employers’ side, there is no membership (see point 3.3) besides that of La Poste to the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP). On the union side:
• CGT : UNI-Europa, the European regional organisation of Union Network International; the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU); the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
• CGT-FO : UNI-Europa, the European regional organisation of Union Network International; the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU); the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
• CFDT : UNI-Europa, the European regional organisation of Union Network International; the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU); the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
• CFTC : the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
• CFE-CGC : the European Confederation of Executive and Managerial Staff (CEC),
• UNSA : the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU); the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
• SUD: no membership
Commentary by the NC
It is particularly important that each NC gives its own comments on the issues covered by this study, paying particular attention on the consequences of the changes affecting the sector over the last decade and on the differences between public and private providers. Please provide any additional information that you consider important to better understand the current situation and recent developments in the sector covered by this study in your country.
The major problem for the La Poste group is not, in our opinion, the increased competition following on from the policy of liberalisation – competition which already exists for the majority of La Poste’s turnover.
In our view, there are the following two major risks:
- a real risk of La Poste splitting up into three different and broadly independent companies (mail, parcels and postal bank) with the La Poste group becoming a holding company. Parcels would be separated from the La Poste group and rapidly privatised – this is a possible hypothesis;
- a conflict, because of the desire of the management of La Poste’s financial services to create a real postal bank, with a private banking sector that it is already very solid and well established throughout the country. The creation of the postal bank, ‘a bank like the others’, is a risky business and not the result of liberalisation, but of a strategic policy of La Poste’s management with State support.
A paradox that should be noted - although a collective bargaining framework had not yet been established at the beginning of 2007 because of the recent creation of the employers’ chamber, nevertheless new players have already been validated by the ARCEP, namely private operators for whom there are no rules regarding industrial relations at sector level.
Benoît Robin, Philippe Zarifian (IRES)