Czech Post plans to dismiss up to 1,700 people

The Czech Post, one of the biggest employers in the Czech Republic with 35,000 staff, is to shut 1,500 branches (half its network) and dismiss up to 1,700 workers. Branches in rural areas will be particularly affected by the plan. Specific details of the redundancies are still to be discussed by the postal trade union and the company management. Unions say there is no need for so many job cuts, and the general public are afraid of having to travel further to get a poorer service.

Mixed reaction

Trade unionists do not believe so many staff need to be dismissed by Czech Post (Česká pošta). Karel Koukal, Chair of the Corporate Coordinating Union Council of Czech Post, a member of the Trade Union of Employees in Postal, Telecommunications and Newspaper Services (OSZPTNS), says the cuts will apply to about 1,500–1,700 jobs (ERM). Mr Koukal added that some of the job positions to be cancelled are not even staffed.

The specific details of personnel savings are still to be discussed between the postal trade union and the company management. Nevertheless, the company says dismissals will not be done wholesale, but after a thorough analysis of the workplaces. Ivo Mravinac, spokesperson for Czech Post, said: ‘Dismissals will affect all the operations’. Czech Post has already dismissed 3,900 employees in the last five years, with 1,000 going in 2006, 400 in 2007, and 2,500 in 2008 (CZ0809019I), thus saving millions of Czech crowns.

However, the general public, particularly the elderly, have criticised the latest move. They are afraid they will have to travel further to get to a post office, and are also worried about a poorer service with longer queues. In this respect, the post office has two options for maintaining services in the regions where branches are to be closed down – either the post office will grant a franchise to local councils, or it will open so-called issuing offices with limited services. Some services will be provided by a mobile post office. Nevertheless, local mayors do not like the idea; they do not want their councils to carry out post offices’ work. Josef Bartoněk, Chair of the Association of Local Councils of the Czech Republic (SMS ČR), says: ‘Local councils should not substitute a post office in its work. At least not under the conditions which the post office is offering us.’ He does not like, for instance, penalties which municipalities may face if they fail to comply correctly with data protection regulations. The next steps of the project are not quite clear.

Soňa Veverková, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs