SOMETHING has to be done about Posti, views Sirpa Paatero (SDP), the Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering.
Paatero on Thursday estimated on YLE Radio 1 that the Finnish state-owned postal services provider cannot continue its operations in their current form and added that the government is weighing up its options when it comes to the company.
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The issues under consideration include mail deliveries, the universal service obligation and the government’s vision for the company.
She also expressed her reservations about the notion of divesting or listing Posti. “We at the government have decided to start thinking how we see the future of Posti 10 years from now, for instance,” she commented in an interview with the public broadcasting company.
Paatero announced recently that the postal service provider’s plan to transfer roughly 700 employees under a more beneficial collective bargaining agreement has been put on hold. Service Sector Employers (Palta) and the Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU) have already begun talks over the issue.
Prime Minister Antti Rinne (SDP) has, on the one hand, promised that the government will not interfere in the bargaining process but, on the other, stressed that the government does not approve of the wage cuts announced by Posti.
Paatero on Thursday said she has had “a few talks about the big picture and the fact that wages have to be enough to get by” with the management at Posti.
“I won’t steer the real negotiations under any circumstances,” she added.
She declined to comment on the possibility that the state-owned company offers a one-off compensation to the employees affected by the manoeuvre, an idea that was floated by Rinne on Wednesday.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
