Save posties' jobs!

#151; After several protests and weeks of leafleting, the postal and telecommunications branch of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union organised a public meeting on September 27 to stop the closure of Australia Post's Fitzroy delivery centre and to save the jobs of 17 posties.

Australia Post intends to split the 17 jobs into four-hour part-time jobs by separating mail sorting for the postal rounds from mail delivery. This means that some workers will be doing four hours of sorting for the postal rounds, then four-hour shift workers will deliver the mail. The job split also enables Australia Post to avoid penalty rates, which would result in a 15% wage cut for posties.

Adam Bandt, the Greens candidate for the seat of Melbourne, described public sector companies such as Australia Post as being "training grounds for the use of the Howard government's laws". He condemned the ALP for its Work Choices Lite policy.

Labor Senator Jacinta Collins said the ALP was committed to keeping Australia Post in public hands, but was unable to commit to anything specific about stopping its bullying practices.

Margarita Windisch, the Socialist Alliance's Victorian Senate candidate, told the meeting that the real problem with Australia Post was that it was run as a corporation aiming to maximise profits rather than being run as a public service.

From GLW issue 726