He worked at Czech Post for more than twenty years. He travels around his district every day with a cart weighing twenty, but mostly kilograms.
22,000 net per month for delivering parcels and is entitled to benefits. So he must have a second job. Now she’s afraid she won’t be able to physically handle childbirth after the impending layoff.
“The post office has only been seen in a movie. They make decisions about something they know nothing about,” he tells Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) and the state-owned company’s management.
“We’re nervous, nervous, sad,” Cesnam, a midwife from Prague, explains in an interview with Spravy. She preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprimand, but the teachers knew her identity.
Has management told you what your job will look like in two months?
No one has said it out loud yet. If they lay off 500 delivery people, who does that relieve? People are very angry with Chek Post now, we are a lightning rod. We will be offering one campus each day and others are standing by. This follows from the fact that every day we carry three days’ mail. So that’s a relief.
A second wave of layoffs
According to an internal document obtained by Seznam Zpravy, up to 529 more positions, mainly delivery workers, are threatened with cancellation. For the post office, the outbound workforce will be less.
The Labor Office announced a second round of mass layoffs on Friday. Mainly letter carriers will lose their jobs, with up to 442 employees in this position potentially being laid off. The layoffs will also affect parcel delivery workers.
How is your work day now?
I get to work before six in the morning and then we go to the sorting room to pick up the items. We categorize it into regular mail and registered mail. We write a recommendation, wrap it up and go out.
You have worked at the Post Office for over twenty years, how do you feel about the current layoffs and the cancellation of 300 branches?
I think they run it ten to five. That’s why I called now. I can’t watch it anymore. We need some postman standing for us. Situation at work is bad. We are nervous, tense and angry. Besides, we don’t know what will happen. We are afraid that we will not be able to do it physically from July 1st. In fact the material will not be delivered in advance. We are not allowed to send anything to each other, we have to carry everything. And the rest of the posts are not inflated. The quality of parcel delivery will further deteriorate.
Reaction of Check Post
Czech Post spokesperson Matyáš Vitík responded to the postal delivery company’s concerns that there would be more work from July 1.
“Procedures will be set up in such a way that there is no disturbance in any case. The volume of letter exports has been consistently decreasing by ten percent per year, with a major impact on the volume of material transported by mandatory data boxes for postal carriers,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Seznam Zprávy.
It’s not profitable, so it’s hard to find people. There are good people in both my districts and it will be hard to lose them. Emotions work a lot there. People now feel sorry for us and pity us.
From your experience in the field, how do seniors feel about staff cuts and branch closures?
We the people are very important to them. We are the only people they see often that week or month. I had a lady who could only sit or lie down and she had to walk a few meters to open it for me and it took twenty minutes. When I brought her pension, I sat on the stairs, filled the papers and waited for her to come. Such a person cannot actually stand in line at the post office.
Not only that – some people we’ve known for years, we’re almost a part of their families, and we’re dealing with things they don’t even know about. I think the post office cheated a lot of customers. But she doesn’t need them…
The Post Office notified the Labor Office of the layoffs of the delivery workers. Where do most of them end up?
According to an internal document obtained by Seznam Zpravy, up to 529 more positions, mainly delivery workers, are threatened with cancellation. For the post office, the outbound workforce will be less.
For example, what do you say to the argument that even senior citizens should transfer more of their pension to their account and use the online payment possibilities?
That is nonsense. Many people do not master this technique. Seniors don’t have time because we fly. We will not have just one district that day. When colleagues are away due to vacation or illness, only a part of us remains. I can imagine it, and that’s why I’m so scared of it. They are unable to give us complete information and we all feel from their behavior that they don’t care.
I love my job, but under these conditions and at my age, I don’t know if I can physically handle it. I want to stay, but I don’t want to end up in a situation where I can’t do it. Check Post can afford the luxury of letting hard-working and disciplined employees leave. The management does not respect its employees and damages the good name of Check Post.
The Austrian minister says the Czech Republic will have the densest branch network in the European Union, despite the reduced number of branches.
The minister probably doesn’t go to the post office to pick up letters, and isn’t a pensioner who can’t walk. I am disappointed with the Minister and his practice. At the same time, I was his voter and I was really looking forward to him cleaning things up.
I invite the Czech Post Office management and the Minister to come to our depots and show us how comfortable they are with their trolleys, briefcases, backpacks and bags. They’ve only seen the post office in a movie and they’re making a decision about something they know nothing about.
What about the benefits you can get to work for the Prison Service or Labor Office?
After all these years they are definitely waiting for me with open arms. But I have a job offer that I am seriously considering.
Do you and your co-worker know if you will be fired?
We have fragmented information and live in a state of uncertainty. We mostly read everything only in the media.
