More than 500 postal workers from across Europe marched through Berlin on 30 May to deliver giantprotest cards to the German government urging Chancellor Angela Merkel – the current European Union
president – to defend the universal postal service, the UNI Post and Logistics union organisationsaid.The march is part of a growing campaign to head off a European Commission de-regulation draftdirective that postal unions claim would remove all protection from traditional postal operatorsfrom January 1 2009 – a move that could destroy operators’ finances and leave them unable tofinance an affordable service to all citizens.
The Berlin march is due to be followed by a Day of Action among postal workers across Europeon June 6 and a lobby of the European Parliament is being planned before it votes on the draftdirective in early July.
UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings told the marchers: “We have to stop this directive andensure that postal services continue to be available to all citizens at an affordable price. It isthe responsibility of this generation of postal union members to fight off this latest attack onthe service.”
“We are opposed to wage and social dumping,” added UNI Post and Logistics President RolfBüttner as he presented the first of two giant “Save our Post” postcards to State SecretaryPhaffenbach outside the Economy Ministry.
UNI-Europa Secretary Bernadette Ségol said: “We are going to lobby the parliament and thegovernments to fight this directive – our postal service is a great service and we need to protectit.”
