11th May 2020 CWU
Research
UNI Post & Logistics virtual discussion on “The
challenges of Last-Mile Delivery for trade unions”, 7th May 2020
Note of meeting
Key Messages
·
Letter
volume decline and increased parcel competition in the last mile have been
accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
·
We must look to defend the postal USO and to develop new services in the
last mile.
·
Postal operators could provide more financial services, social services
and community services. They could
deliver more medicines and groceries and check in on the elderly and
vulnerable.
·
Parcels, letters and fliers should be delivered together to maximise
revenues and profit and minimise traffic and pollution. Combining services like this brings a
competitive advantage for postal operators.
·
We should look at whether the criteria for USO letters
and parcels could be expanded to bring in more products.
·
Trade unions must organise collectively across the
postal sector including amongst parcel competitors to keep the playing field
level for all workers no matter which union they belong to.
·
UPU is helping postal services to optimise the last mile. It is looking at initiatives such as social
services, and making services more environmentally sustainable with electric
vehicles and recycling initiatives.
·
UNI has
launched a European Postal Workers campaign – ‘Save Our Post’ which has five
main demands centred on defending and expanding the postal USO and upholding
social and environmental standards.UNI has asked affiliates to help sign the
petition and support the campaign.[1]
Introduction
The following is a summary of
a video conference held on 7th May by UNI Post & Logistics and
attended by over 70 representatives of postal unions around the world. Presentations were given by the Universal
Postal Union and trade union representatives from Brazil, Canada, New Zealand,
Sweden and Senegal.
The presentations and
discussion centred on letter volume decline and increased parcel competition in
the last mile - trends which have been accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
UNI stated that around half
of employees in Universal Service Providers (USPs) are in delivery. Last mile
delivery should be looked at in three key areas, all of which need urgent
answers from trade unions representing the workers in the sector:
1.
The development of
delivery and its organisation within the universal service provider;
2.
Prospects for developing
new services to be covered by postal workers active in last-mile delivery; and
3.
The evolution of
competition.
Jens Saverstam fromSeko in
Sweden chaired the meeting. He gave
apologies from Dave Ward (CWU GS and UNI Post & Logistics President) and a
message from Dave to say that discussions were ongoing with Royal Mail
following a breakthroughin whichthe company had pulled back from executive action
on reducing the UK postal USO. This is a
good result for the CWU.
Christy HoffmanUNI General
Secretary said it is a very difficult time for all fighting to protect the
safety of our postal members. There is Covid-19
in virtually every country and there is an economic crisis looming. All the postal trends already in play before
Covid-19 have accelerated so we need to be dealing with the crisis in the short
term but thinking about the long term outcome for workers and how we can
protect them.
The last mile is crowded a) because there
are a lot of packages and b) with several different employment models including
the gig economy operators, the express parcel operators and the main postal
operators.
It’s unwelcome and damaging to have so
many operators delivering to the same areas every day. We need to consider how we shape last mile
delivery so that we create a better model for postal services with good quality
employment and a green economy.
Cornelia Berger(Head of UNI
Post & Logistics)said that UNI had carried out an online thought exchange
amongst affiliates. They asked for
ideas on the question:
What is the most effective solution unions
can fight for to win the battle of the last mile delivery?
The three highest ranked thoughts in
response to this were:
1. Fight against the
attack on employees. Competitors will accelerate the use of
platforms to recruit delivery workers with entrepreneur status.
2. The last
kilometre is equal access to the postal service for all citizens, regardless of
who they are, anywhere in the country.
3. Delivering letters
and parcels together can provide a significant cost advantage over companies
that only deliver parcels.Pure parcel
delivery is only carried out in the large metropolitan areas. The combined
delivery of Deutsche Post AG is an advantage in competition.
Cornelia said that we must lobby to defend
the USO and it is important that we focus on:
·
Maintaining
and extending the USO
·
Combined
letter and parcel delivery
·
Greening the
post/making it more environmentally responsible
·
Organising
workers in the postal competitors
Susan Alexander, UPU
The UPU (Universal Postal Union) is a specialised
agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member
nations. It has 192 member countries. It is the second oldest international inter-governmental
organisation, founded in Bern in 1874.
It has its HQ in Bern in Switzerland and its location helps it to work
closely with UNI.
UPU plays a role in:
·
Regulating worldwide
traffic of international mail
·
Postal technical
standards
·
Postal quality
of service standards
·
Maintaining a system
for compensating countries known as terminal dues
·
Promoting
development of modern products and services
·
Represents all
postal sector players
·
UPU and UNI
have a new cooperation agreement since 2018
Aspects of the last
mile
·
UPU helps
member countries to optimise the last mile
·
UPU works on
supporting a sustainability agenda
UPU social services
project
·
UPUaims to review
social services currently provided
·
Identify best
practices
·
Promote new
social services
Postal social services can help to:
·
Directly
improve people’s wellbeing
·
Generate
direct and indirect revenue
Environmental
objectives
UPU aims to encourage member countries to
take action on a green agenda. This
includes: Recycling, eco driving, electric vehicles, solar energy production.
About postal social
and financial services during Covid-19[2]
UPU has created a page on its website which aims to provide a single
location for collecting examples of social and financial services that have
been initiated and/or expanded by governments and designated operators in
response to the pandemic. In the spirit of solidarity, efficiency and
collaboration, the UPU is seeking:
- Examples of postal social and financial service responses to COVID-19
- Frameworks on rapid implementation of new services or expansion of existing ones
- Details of new governmental initiatives to facilitate access to social and financial services through the postal network
Postal responses to this
outbreak are being identified via online articles and through direct contact
with UPU member countries. Links to these examples have been published as
sub-pages for social services[3]
and financial services.[4]
Future vision
·
We are going
to see increased growth in ecommerce and financial services in future.
·
The postal
sector mustadapt the universal service in response to the changes we’re seeing.
·
Postal
services should introduce more government and social services.
·
Government
policy will be of crucial importance in this.
UPU/UNI studies taking
place in 2020
·
Impact of
digitization on the postal sector
·
Impact on
employees
Questions on UPU presentation
Stephane from
France commented that:
We are going to
be looking at decarbonising especially in big cities. We should coordinate what we do on this and
we should have these discussions at a European and Global level.
But it will be
difficult to introduce the same standards everywhere given that some countries
are highly developed and others are not.
Social standards won’t be the same throughout the world.
Susan (UPU) – We believe there will be a new normal. Many social services we see to deliver
medicines and other things to the elderly and vulnerable people were already in
place before the pandemic began. We know
that some of them will be less useful when we go back to normal, but many will
continue to be useful and will increase.
A lot of this will need to be dealt with at government level.
Services should
be based on the needs of each individual country but the UPU is there to help
countries share best practices and improve standards worldwide.
Cornelia – it is important to explore the potential for postal
services to provide more financial services, social services, giving post more of
a community and social role, and not just the transportation of goods. We need to think about developing a new
identity and a new idea of what the post could be.
UNI is expecting
to start a working group on environmental standards and we have sent out a
survey to affiliates on this. We want to
hold a discussion on what a green post would look like and how can we operate
the postal service in a carbon neutral society.
Standards may
not be the same between countries, but there must be minimum standards within
each country to avoid social dumping (a race to the bottom on pay and
conditions).
Ronaldo Leite – Brasil (Findect)
Ronaldo covered
the challenges facing postal workers in Brazil in the private sector (as
opposed to the state sector).
There has been nearly
an 8% drop in postal traffic in 2018 compared with 2017.
We’ve lost 20%
of jobs over the last 7 years (26,000) jobs in the postal sector.
There are 36
unions in the postal sector.
We want to
organise and push for collective agreements in new areas.
We are trying to
speak with other trade unions for a coordinated approach to organising postal
workers in the private sector.
Jan from Canada
Developing
delivery
Jan talked about
the best ways to maintain and innovate in last mile delivery. She said that the innovation challenge is
immense. We have to be clear about
this. We can’t shy away from letting our
members know how hard it’s going to be.
We should mix
parcels, letters and fliers together tomaximise revenues and minimise traffic
and pollution, and maintain profit. This
gives us an advantage against other players that can’t deliver other products
to the last mile.
Developing
new services
Jan said we also
need to expand on this cocktail/mix. We
should collect from residential consumers and we should deliver groceries
(postal workers can do this in a more timely way). We should offer social services such as ‘elder
check in’ like they do in France. This
may not make a lot of money but will help to raise the profile of the post as a
public service with a diverse range of services.
Maintain last mile delivery
Employers are attempting to come into the market and cut prices. Amazon is just one example. This will be a big challenge for established
operators and workers there. We need to
be seriously asking how the lines of the USO could be expanded in order to sustain
it.
We need to speak
to other trade unions to organise collectively to keep the playing field level
for all workers no matter which union we belong to.
Could the limits
of a USO letter in terms of size and weight be expanded to bring in more products.
We need to have
this discussion to avoid a race to the bottom on employment standards and
quality of service in postal services.
We’ve been
making representations to governments to protect the USO. For example we’re rejecting any move to 5 day
delivery. We have a Covid plan but we
also have a post Covid plan to expand services beyond the crisis.
Joe Gallagher
– New Zealand
Predictions are that postal service will see two years’ worth of volume
decline as a result of the current crisis.
People are cancelling magazine orders for example, but there has been an
incredible rise in parcels.
There are huge challenges in moving to a parcels company, but we do have
electric vehicles that can deliver parcels and mail.
We now have a postal system with three day delivery (effectively every
second day delivery). We are trying to
say to the postal service that we need to work together towards being a postal
and logistics service with mail as a secondary function. We are focusing on maintaining decent full time
jobs and a just transition as the postal service changes.
New Zealand has had a low death rate from coronavirus and it looks like
we will come out of lockdown next week and hopefully begin the economic
recovery but we don’t know what the future holds.
Jens Saverstam – Seko - Sweden - UNI Europa Campaign
Jens gave a short presentation on UNI’s campaign around securing the
future of postal services ahead of the introduction of a4thEuropean Postal
Directive.
UNI has launched a European Postal Workers campaign – Save Our Post.
The campaign has five main demands
1. Invest in the
future of post
2. Build on the existing USO to reflect parcel growth
3. Include social and environmental standards in minimum standards
4. Guarantee a sustainable financing of the USO
5. Uphold minimum USO requirements
2. Build on the existing USO to reflect parcel growth
3. Include social and environmental standards in minimum standards
4. Guarantee a sustainable financing of the USO
5. Uphold minimum USO requirements
UNI have called on affiliates to help sign the
petition and to communicate our demands and share our campaign by using the
hashtag #SaveOurPost and the attached logo.
See
(https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/saveourpost/)
Also see the campaign landing page
(http://www.uni-europa.org/2020/04/20/save-our-post/) for more detail.
There is also a button on the homepage
(http://www.uni-europa.org/ third down on the right hand side).
We also would ask your to communicate our demands and
share our campaign by using the hashtag #SaveOurPost and the attached logo.
https://www.uni-europa/2020/04/21/save-our-post/
Jens Saverstam – Presentation on Sweden last mile
·
Mail volumes decreasing,
ecommerce increasing, lots of competition
·
Covid-19 has
not affected trends
·
Food and
pharmaceutical delivery has increased a lot during covid-19
·
Postal workers
considered a key service during covid-19
·
Last mile – the
unions have a sectorial bargaining agreement
·
Important to
organise all companies including in the gig economy. This has happened in Sweden with Seko and
other trade unions.
·
We now have
all companies organized in the mail sector and the parcel sector. Some with us
(seko) and some with other unions
Future for the last mile
·
5 day delivery
service today
·
We have an
agreement to protect secure jobs in the postal service
IbrahimaSarr – Senegal
·
Challenge in
Africa us huge in terms of organisation and how postal operators function.
·
In many places
we don’t have clear addresses or reliable post codes so the final mile can be
very difficult for delivery workers.
·
Governments
and local authorities must pick up this challenge so that mail can be delivered
much more effectively.
·
We also need to
have the necessary logistics in place to provide the service.
·
We need
regulation in place to control competition.
We are seeing a lot of start-ups in the sector because it is not well
regulated.
·
We have a high
level of organisation. We have worked to
improve terms and conditions of employment for DHL members.
Irena Liepina – Latvia
·
I welcome the
emphasis on food delivery and pharmaceuticals which is very important in Latvia
·
Good news from
Latvia that we have confirmed an improvement in wages for postal workers.
·
We have a new
sector which is food delivery, some for restaurants and hotels. This covers around 26,000 workers. We have a new general collective agreement in
this sector will hopefully enter into force soon.
Ubine – FentectBrasil
Postal workers and retail workers are doing a lot of hard work at the
moment during this crisis. There is
growth in ecommerce but far fewer letters and restructuring is now underway.
We are seeing much more happening in the last mile. This is difficult as we have a lot of social
deregulation and employment deregulation.
The government is denying there is a coronavirus crisis.
We can’t have a competitive price as we have to deliver to outlying
areas. Our competitors can deliver where
they like and can pay workers what they like.
They are skewing the market – this is not a level playing field.
Those in the most precarious position will be exploited and this is a
major concern.
There will be further casualization of labour.
Jose Oliveira - Portugal
We face a big problem in Portugal.
We are being told that if we don’t accept changes there will be job
losses.
Cornelia – summing up:
It has been useful to hear experiences from other countries and this helps
us to develop a UNI position.
We have decided to continue this format and to have one more session
before the summer break in June. We have
not decided on the topic so feel free to make a suggestion.
UNI now has a twitter account.
twitter.com/UNI_P_L
[1]See: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/saveourpost) and (http://www.uni-europa.org/2020/04/20/save-our-post) for more
detail.