Itella has announced that it will start labour negotiations next week with the aim to cut about430 management positions as part of its recently announced cost-cutting programme.
The upcoming labour negotiations are the first step in implementing the three-year cost-cuttingprogramme Itella launched in August this year with the aim to save over €100 million in operatingcosts.
Through this measure, the Finnish postal operator is coping with the rapidly decreasing volumesin home-delivered mail as the trend increasingly goes towards digital communication. The companystressed that it must adjust to changes in demand.
“The statutory labour negotiations concern employees in administrative positions includingemployees working at Itella’s headquarters as well as in planning, sales and marketing, ITadministration and HR administration. Most of the positions are located in the capital region,”Itella explained.
However, the postal operator pointed out that the job cuts would not impact mail delivery orsorting and added: “No direct impact that is visible to customers is expected.”
After the negotiations are completed, Itella will finally determine how many jobs are needed tobe cut. The decision should fall by the end of October or the beginning of November at thelatest.
The company added that the job cuts will be implemented with the help of best HR practices anddifferent other methods such as pension solutions and voluntary arrangements. As part of themeasures, Itella has signed a new change security agreement with Finnish Post and Logistics Union(PAU) that it claims is better than the statutory change security.
PAU officially expressed its concern about the job cuts expecting “thousands of jobs todisappear in the next few years” as the result of the country’s market opening last year. The unionadded that the company’s top-level management structures should be carefully examined as part ofthe country’s government statutory procedures.
