Several thousand postmen and women demonstrated in Berlin today. They worry about their jobs. The federal government is planning to amend the Postal Act.
Several thousand postmen and women followed a call from the ver.di union today and demonstrated in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate against the planned changes to the postal law. According to union figures, 30,000 people took part in the protest.
The post office is currently supposed to deliver on working days, but this is not always possible, as increasing complaints to the Federal Network Agency show. The volume of letters is decreasing. According to the annual report, Deutsche Post transported a total of 14.1 million letters last year. The number has been falling for years. In 2017 there were more than 18.5 million.
Soon less frequent deliveries?
In the future, consumers could see their postmen even less often. The federal government is planning to amend the Postal Act. The idea: less frequent delivery, but more reliability. And more competition. The union and its members protested against the latter in Berlin today.
On the one hand, the union is demanding that letters continue to be delivered every day in the future. But ver.di is also specifically concerned about tens of thousands of jobs and the working conditions of delivery workers.
More competition in a shrinking market
According to ver.di, more competition in a shrinking mail market can only be achieved by adjusting working conditions. This happened after the first liberalization after 2008. Since then, working conditions and wages in the industry have deteriorated significantly, the union said.
“In this personnel-intensive area, parcel and letter delivery, tightening competition must not set in motion a new downward spiral in working conditions,” warned ver.di in its call for demonstrations.
Federal Government want soon Key points paper submit
It is not yet clear exactly how competition in the mail sector should be stimulated. In a key issues paper from January, the Ministry of Economic Affairs simply stated: “Competition on the mail markets continues to need regulatory incentives overall.” According to the Federal Network Agency, Deutsche Post AG has a market share of 85 percent for letters.
It is expected that the ministry will soon present a concrete draft bill. Before that, the union wanted to put pressure on their cause again.
The network agency should be able to take tougher action
The specific aim is to enable more competition for small shipments of up to two kilograms, the so-called consignments of goods. These small packages are a growth market, but it is difficult for new providers to establish themselves there, according to a report from the Monopolies Commission and the Federal Network Agency this year. Deutsche Post’s competitors do not have such an extensive delivery network as the market leader.
According to the Federal Ministry of Economics’s plan, the postal service should therefore give other providers access to its network for sending goods. In order to achieve greater reliability, the government believes the Federal Network Agency should also be given new control and sanction options.