PostNL is helping about 500 unemployed workers find a job in mail delivery in cooperation withthe organisations Locus and Cedris following a previous ongoing agreement with Locus that concerns
1,200 people being offered a job in new parcel sorting and distribution centres.The agreement targets people from a social employment organisation with a labour impairment andto whom the Dutch Social Employment Act (WSW) applies. It also concerns people on social security(Work and Assistance Act, WWB). They will be offered the opportunity to work as a part-time maildeliverer, when PostNL has local vacancies available. Next to that, local social employmentorganisations should have employees available that are suited for these jobs. In addition, PostNLcontinues to recruit part-time mail deliverers the regular way.
Herna Verhagen, CEO of PostNL, said: “Part of the social policy of PostNL is the creation ofjobs for people distant from the labour market. The labour processes at Mail and Parcels are verysuitable for these jobs. It is our experience that these motivated employees are doing a great jobas mail deliverers. To ensure successful employment of people distant from the labour market, theaccompaniment of social employment organisations is crucial.”
Employees from social employment organisations are seconded to PostNL on a long-term basis. Thesocial employment organisation is responsible for recruitment, training and the daily schedulingand supervision on the work floor, PostNL added. It has already started to employ people inEindhoven, Ede, Alkmaar and Groningen.
Founded in 2011, Locus is a public-private partnership between national companies,municipalities and SW companies aiming to improve employment chances of people at some distancefrom the labour market by better responding to business demand. It is an initiative of Divosa (theassociation of social service directors) and Cedris, the umbrella organisation comprising 90 socialemployment organisations.
Hanne Overbeek, managing director of Locus, said: “Working as a mail deliverer is a useful,independent and healthy job. We know from experience that people with a labour impairment, who workat a social employment organisation, can also develop to be mail deliverers. For people on welfareworking as part-time mail deliverer, this is an excellent first step on the labour market. Applyingfor a position from a job is easier than from a social-security situation.”
In a separate move, PostNL has decided not to apply for compensation of the net costs forproviding postal services in 2011 as part of the Universal Service Obligation for six-day maildelivery. The reason for the withdrawal of its application is the announced intention by the DutchMinister of Economic Affairs, Henk Kamp, to adjust the statutory requirements for the UniversalService Obligation (USO).
The measures could include price increases from 1 July 2013 possibly leading to an increase inthe basic rate for letters of around €0.06. The Dutch Independent Post and TelecommunicationAuthority (OPTA) will verify whether these measures are necessary to ensure the profitability ofthe USO.
Net costs are caused by the statutory USO obligation for six-day delivery, retaining 19,000 mailboxes and an extensive network of post offices. The Postal Directive and the Postal Service Act2009 provide for a compensation scheme for the net costs of the USO. The net costs are distributedamong postal companies in the Netherlands. Since PostNL is the largest provider of postal services,it has to bear the largest part of these costs.
