Local strikes still under way at Post Office

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Local strikes at the French Post Office (La Poste) prevented mail from being delivered in some towns and regions for several weeks in March and April 2000. The locally-negotiated implementation of the February 1999 framework agreement on the reduction of working time in the Post Office has proved more difficult than predicted, and since October 1999 the number of strikes and other actions has been increasing, particularly in the South.

Between March and April 2000, postal deliveries were greatly disrupted by industrial action in the départementsof Haute-Garonne (around Toulouse), and Hautes-Pyrénées (around Tarbes). This was also the case in Nice for five weeks until late April, while a new dispute was getting under way in Marseille in early May. In each of these regions, the disputes have partially paralysed the local economy.

The conflict stems from the problematic locally-negotiated application of the framework agreement on the reduction of working time signed by La Poste's management and the relevant trade union federations affiliated to CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and CGT-FO in February 1999 (FR9902158N). CGT and SUD-PTT refused to sign the agreement.

Unlike the postal disputes in late 1999 and early 2000, sparked by a variety of factors (FR0002139N), the issue causing the current problems is that of Saturday work for postal staff. Currently, 180,000 of the 306,000 postal staff work every other Saturday. Management now wants working time to be calculated over six days instead of five, with extra days off granted as compensation. At the present time, the Saturday delivery rounds are lighter than weekdays ones, as only non-commercial post is delivered. However, the rapidly increasing use of advertising material now provides one of La Poste's main sources of income. The company's management is seeking to ensure the loyalty of that section of its clientele which sends this type of mail in bulk before 2003, when its monopoly in this field may well be removed and the delivery of mail opened up to competition with private operators. For the management, the issue is thus to turn Saturday into a working day "like any other", with all types of post being delivered.

To defend its action on the reduction of working time, La Poste has produced an opinion poll of 1,010 staff, carried out by the Institut CSA-Opinion between 10 and 20 March 2000. According to the poll, 91% of postal workers who have made the transition to the 35-hour week say they are "very" or "quite satisfied", compared with the 9% who are "not very" or "not at all satisfied". However, although the poll indicated that La Poste staff who have changed over to the 35-hour week feel that the reduction of working time is a good thing for them (86%) and for La Poste (84%), 51% say that it will take place under "quite or very bad conditions", compared with 49% who think it will be implemented under "quite or very good conditions".

As the situation stands, only 75,000 out of 306,000 staff are covered by a local agreement on the 35-hour week. Management hopes to hold more negotiations throughout 2000 so that all staff can switch to the new timetable.

Faced with the increasing number of frequently sharp disputes, in which CGT and SUD-PTT have a particularly high profile, the unions that signed up to the February 1999 framework agreement have invited the management to take note of their members' reluctance over Saturday work, and especially to revise upward the number of new staff the company plans to take on, as the economic growth of recent months has generated higher levels of activity than predicted.