We receive our mail, Birthday Cards, Newspapers, Magazines, Wedding Invitations, paper invoices, Late Payment Demands, Death Threats, Funeral and Baptism invites through the letter box from the Postman.
The postman is a nice guy or lady who tramps up and down the streets and stairs to deliver the mail – we have all heard the motto:
“Neither Snow Nor Rain …” the original quote is said to have originated in the Middle East around 500 BC.
But the bosses at the Finnish Post Office decided that the humble postman was being paid too much and decided to cut the monthly wage by some 30% and more.
This trick was decided upon at a secret board meeting where the board decided to move a group of 700 parcel workers to another company they owned and controlled that had a collective agreement with a much lower wage structure.
They claimed that the owner of the Post Office was informed about the move….
The owner in question is the Finnish government that handles all such decisions through the appropriate minister, a Social Democrat MP called Ms. Paatero.
She claims that she heard about the 700 workers were to be moved to another Post Office company but she has never disclosed what she was told or not told:
- We do not know if she was not told about the cut in wages, or
- If the she failed to read the small print, or
- If she was deliberately kept in the dark, or
- That her assistant forgot to mention the fact that the postmen were being shafted…
Whatever the case, the damage was done when the decision was made by the board. Now we will soon have half the country out on a sympathy strike with public transport, flights, boats, exports, food deliveries all grinding to a halt over the next few days.
It is little wonder that the Social Democrat Prime Minister called in the top boys and girls to try and get the decision reversed because the polls have red number flashing for the present government.
The opposition, the employers’ unions and right wing populists are all delighted with this situation because they can point a guilty finger at the government for inept management of the Post Office affairs.
Let’s just hope that a solution can be agreed quickly – one that includes a dressing down and salary reduction for the bosses (the CEO got almost €1 million last year), a new board, and a decent wage for those hardworking postmen. It is freezing here today in Finland with a meter of snow in the North.
