Postage unpaid
Poland has recently suffered several bouts of postal paralysis. In mid-November, postmen in Gdańsk stopped delivering letters. Two days later, postmen in Zielona Góra ceased working. From there the strike spread to Toruń, Poznań, Białystok, Łod, Elblšg and other Polish cities.
Last Friday, 90 percent of Warsaw's post offices were closed and the majority of postmen in the Kujawko-Pomorskie, Podkarparpackie, Podlaskie and Pomorskie voivodships did not show up for work. In other parts of Poland, post-office employees chose to work, but signaled a readiness to join the strike immediately if negotiations with Poczta Polska's management did not yield results.
The postal employees' demands included raising their minimum wage to zł.1,500, an eight-hour working day, and a cessation of leaflet delivery. The management was willing to agree to some of these requests, but not to the most important - the wage raise. However, if the strike does not end quickly, Poczta Polska might be facing a much wider financial headache. Clients could claim for damages for undelivered mail, and many firms are considering canceling existing agreements with Poczta Polska.
In the run up to Christmas many retailers blitz postboxes with inserts and catalogs with special offers for the holiday season. However, this year such mail could be delivered late, costing these firms millions.
"We do care about our cooperation with Poczta Polska, because only this company can deliver our inserts to letter boxes," says Renata Juszkiewicz, the director of retailer Metro AG's representative office in Poland. "However, now our top priority is that our clients receive the inserts on time. Therefore, we are looking for a firm which could distribute our catalogs."
Strikers were due to resume negotiations on Monday.
