I’m an Australia Post worker. A lot of my workmates were bloody annoyed that they didn’t get a $100 “Christmas bonus” last year – salt in the wound of gaining only a small pay rise, stretched out over three years, in our last enterprise agreement.
Now our boss, the Australia Post CEO, has told us that he too is forgoing his annual “bonus”, and some cronies (sorry, senior executives) will have theirs halved. The CEO’s sacrifice was favourably covered by the Australian. It was reported that Ahmed Fahour told a recent board meeting that it was appropriate he “share the pain” currently being experienced by the postal service by not accepting his $2.5 million “bonus”.
Why? Still aching from spending last year’s $2.6 million perhaps, Mr Fahour? Maybe it’s because Australia Post has just asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to allow it to increase the cost of a basic stamp from 70 cents to $1. It’s not exactly good timing to be accepting an annual bonus equal to what some workers earn in a lifetime while crying poor and trying to slug Australians over 40 percent more to send a letter. Call me cynical (I am); bitter and angry as well.
Parcel delivery is booming in this country. Yes, it does cost to deliver parcels and letters, but Australia Post is making money. It recorded a $98 million profit for the first half of the 2014-15 financial year.
The Communication Workers Union, which represents Post workers, has pointed out that results published in Australia Post’s most recent annual report don’t match up with Fahour’s public statements about the size of the drop in mail volume. Business figures are like magic tricks to most of us. What you see is just illusion.
What can’t be hidden is the $30 million that the CWU says has been sucked out of the postal workers’ superannuation scheme. The union estimates that some workers will be $30,000 worse off because of the changes. 
The fact that our Maserati-driving (complete with AMAZZN number plates), $20 million mansion (complete with panic room) owning boss has knocked back a multi-million dollar “bonus” is cold comfort. It’s like telling the homeless that you’re empathising with them by turning down your electric blanket.

CWU member

Post workers not deluded by boss’s ‘pain’ claim

Big business salivates greedily as Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott plot the sell-off of Australia Post. Some, like billionaire MP Clive Palmer (who has strong regional backing), oppose the sale because they argue that country services will be cut.
This is already happening. Australia Post confirmed on 20 February that, by March, next-day mail delivery will be scrapped for regional centres. The Communications Workers Union (CWU) in Victoria will work to minimise resulting job losses in Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour and Gippsland
Among the cheerleaders for privatisation is National Online Retailers Association chairman Paul Greenberg. Speaking to an online business forum, he said, “Every instinct in my body says privatisation will lead to a better outcome.” No doubt Greenberg and other commercial interests aim to tailor Australia Post to suit their profits, to the detriment of Australia Post workers and service to the public.
The Business Council of Australia is also backing privatisation, saying that government ownership of the service is squandering taxpayer dollars. This is despite Post returning more than $310 million profit, after tax, to the government in 2013.
There has been some testing of the waters about the public attitude to change. Suggestions have been made that some Centrelink services could be taken on by Australia Post. Relevant unions and social services lobby groups would strongly oppose any move that would slash jobs, worsen conditions and deplete services even further.
This is already happening. Australia Post has been contracting out work for years. This has been a disaster for workers. According to the CWU, contracting has led to delivery drivers working for less than the minimum wage provided under the Road Transport and Distribution Award and missing out on superannuation payments. Sixty workers were affected when one contractor went into liquidation during the Christmas peak. The union has fought for back pay for members impacted.
For more than 200 years the government has run a postal service in Australia. A communication lifeline for everyone, it is an essential service. Australia Post employs more than 35,000 people and has more than 4400 outlets, with more than half of these in rural and regional areas. Job losses and service cuts will hit hard.
More information about the union’s campaign to keep Australia Post in public hands can be found at <a href="http://handsoffaussiepost.org.au/">handsoffaussiepost.org.au</a>.

Post workers not deluded by boss’s ‘pain’ claim

Get your grubby hands off Australia Post!

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