Posti prepared to start quickly negotiations on terms of employment

03.09.2019

The Chairman of Posti’s Board of Directors Markku Pohjola believes it is important that the collective agreement negotiations between the Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU and Service Sector Employers PALTA continue as soon as possible after the strike.

“Posti’s objective is to find a collective agreement solution during the collective agreement negotiations in the fall that corresponds to the company’s needs concerning competitive markets. Posti is prepared to start these collective agreement negotiations with PAU and seek solutions to the challenges facing Posti as quickly as possible,” emphasizes Pohjola.

With the liberalization of regulations in postal services, Posti now has 16 competitors in mail and publication delivery. For this reason, the same tasks are performed under different collective agreements. The cost level of the collective agreements that other delivery companies comply with is significantly lower than PAU’s collective agreement that Posti complies with. Posti’s structural transformation also creates a need to reorganize work in new ways.

The widely discussed collective agreement covering 700 employees in parcel sorting is valid until the end of October. According to Pohjola, the dialog with personnel will continue.

Posti will also discuss the terms of employment with the owner.

Posti is facing the greatest structural change in its history

Pohjola is pleased with the Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering Sirpa Paatero’s statement today in which she said that the Finnish Government is planning to launch an investigation concerning the coordination of Posti’s position and the current universal service obligations.

“Posti is faced with unprecedented changes due to letter volumes, which are decreasing at a record high rate, and intensifying competition. Posti must make structural changes in order to provide work in the future. The decrease in letter volumes reduces Posti’s income annually by EUR 70 million,” says Pohjola.

Posti’s Board of Directors will address the remuneration of the company’s management in September

Pohjola says that today he has discussed with the minister the decision of Posti’s Board of Directors to address future guidelines concerning the remuneration of the company’s management during September.

“We are engaged in good and open dialog with the ownership steering, and the remuneration issues are also being discussed with the owner,” says Pohjola.