Trade unions of the Polish Post are to stage protests against blanket layoffs planned in line with the company’s restructuring programme, to be completed by 2015.

Around 5,000 employees are to lose their jobs this year, while 90,000 will face reduced employment conditions.

Head of the Polish Post branch of the Solidarity trade union, Bogumil Nowicki, stressed that the first employees to go will be the staff of post offices that are to shut down to make way for the Polish Post’s pilot project, that is downgrading the facilities to a chain of postal agencies, earning commission from services and sales.

Meanwhile, the trade unions, opposed to such plans, are to hold demonstrations at the provincial post offices, the first of which is to be staged in Poznan on 2 March, followed by a protest in Warsaw two weeks later.

The trade unions are against the scope of the blanket layoffs. They believe that redundancies not only among the allegedly excessive administrational staff, but also employees dealing with customer service would lead to the company’s collapse.

The Polish Post branch of the Solidarity trade union reminded that the Polish postal market will be open to all European operators within two years. However, while the company is facing serious financial straits, it may prove incapable of competing against foreign firms.

Polish Post, which employs over 92,000 people, recorded losses of over 50 mln euro in 2008 and the following year. Last year’s balance sheet amounted to zero. (aba/jb)

Source: IAR