French postal unions are calling a strike on November 14 in protest at moves to restructure LaPoste’s mail activities and in response to the European Commission’s recent proposal to fully
liberalise all EU postal markets in 2009. There have already been various local protests andstrikes in several French regions in recent weeks.The Sud-PTT, CGT, FO, CFDT and CFTC unions declared that the Commission’s proposal presented “ serious threats to the future of the public postal service and its staff”. They claimed thatliberalisation would increase consumer stamp prices, lead to thousands of job losses, lower socialworking standards and result in more temporary and part-time working.
La Poste was already gearing up for liberalisation by closing sorting centres and postoffices, and by planning to cut 30,000 out of a total of 10,000 jobs by 2010, the unions claimed.
The Sud-PTT union said the November 14 strike was “a chance to say no to liberalisation andprivatisation, no to restructuring … and to call for a true development of the public postalservice”.
