CESI’s Trade Council ‘Post & Telecoms’ critical of sector liberalisation and working conditions for older workers

The resolution ’20 years after the privatisation of the postal market’ concludes that the privatisation of the postal markets in Europe 20 years ago has neither led to improved services for the consumers nor to adequate working conditions for the workers employed in the sector. Specifically, it notes that privatisations have led to competition between postal service providers being staged on the back of the employees in the sector, who nowadays face higher workloads, decreased wages, and increased pressures towards forced part-time work or so-called ‘mini jobs’ than was the case prior the privatisation in the sector.

The position statement ‘Adjusting the P&T sector labour market to demographic ageing’ points to the necessity to adjust working conditions in the P&T sector to the continuing and progressing demographic ageing of its workforce. In this context, it lists a number of fields of action that policy-makers need to engage in if they want to promote active healthy ageing and counter ever increasing levels of old-age unemployment in the P&T sector. These refer, most notably, to the introduction of:

• more effective work-life balance and work organisation solutions;
• better lifelong learning schemes;
• adequate voluntary part-time work frameworks;
• more flexible retirement conditions; and
• appropriate guaranteed pension levels.

The next P&T Trade Council is scheduled to take place on December 11 in Luxembourg. A main point to be discussed will be the likely impacts of the EU Digital Single Market initiative in working conditions in the P&T sector.

* CESI’s Trade Councils are its sector-specific principal forums for debate and action, composed of representatives of its member organisations active in the respective sectors. They usually meet twice per year.