Czech Post to lay off 2,269 workers by 1 June, mostly at counters

The Czech Post will lay off 2,269 employees on June 1. Of these, 1,388 will be counter staff, 511 delivery workers and 320 lower management staff. Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported this today, referring to a document on the mass layoffs, which the Czech Post addressed to the Labour Office.

According to the document, the redundancies will affect all regions. For example, 302 employees will lose their jobs in the Central Bohemian Region, 258 in the Moravian-Silesian Region, 238 in the South Moravian Region and 236 in Prague. Parcel deliverers, drivers, sorters, senior and top management should not lose their jobs.

According to earlier information, the post office should close 300 branches out of the current 3,200. The Czech Telecommunications Office's proposal is now in the inter-ministerial comment procedure. The Interior Ministry has previously said that the closures would affect larger cities with more branches. "Mayors and the public will be informed about the specific branches to be closed when the new parameters for the branches are finally approved. We expect this information within a few weeks," the daily quotes Czech Post spokesman Matyáš Vitík as saying.

The postal unions, which are now on strike alert, are opposed to the layoffs. Evžen Dvorský, the chairman of the Czech Post employees' union, said they would discuss the next course of action at a meeting with employees scheduled for 1 April. "Our next step will be a demonstration. If even that does not help, we will certainly be interested in a strike," Dvorský said. For example, a strike at the key postal hub in Prague's Malešice is under consideration, he said. The movement Dvorský represents is one of the smaller union centres at the post office.

In recent years, the Czech Post has been operating in the red. Last year it halved its loss to CZK 681 million. In the previous year, it posted a drop of CZK 1.37 billion. Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN) announced on Wednesday that the cost of transforming Česká pošta will probably exceed CZK 8 billion. He said the transformation plan, which includes a reduction in the number of branches and layoffs, will be ready by the end of June this year. Rakušan also said that the Post Office would discuss the closure of branches with representatives of towns and municipalities in April. Only after a list of the post offices to be closed down had been drawn up should the company announce the number of employees to be made redundant and communicate it to the labour authorities.

The transformation would result in a state-owned enterprise operating a branch network in 2025, providing basic services defined by the state and financial services, and a joint-stock company providing logistics and parcel services. The Post Office as a whole should not be loss-making at that time.

Source: MfD and CTK