Sunday 19 March 2023 – “It will certainly not be the “Polis Project”, which envisages the involvement of 126 Municipalities in Basilicata (98 in the province of Potenza and 28 in that of Matera) with the transformation of post offices into one-stop shop for the Public Administration, to “save” the postal services in our region.
The shortage of staff – at least eighty units – excessive insecurity, the difficult ones conditions of the workers who are unloaded on the user these are all factors to be overcome if we want to guarantee the provision of essential services for the citizens of small municipalities in a process of real sharing between the unions and the management of Poste Italiane”.
These are the assessments that emerged in a meeting between UilPoste members with the Uil Poste regional secretaries, Dominic Powerand Uil Basilicata, Vincent Tortorelli.
“The long queues, especially for the elderly, in the rain or the sun at the entrances to post offices, which repeat themselves especially on the days of payment of pensions or bills – underlines Potenza – are the strongest example of the difficulties that we, like Uil, have been denouncing for some time because the Post Offices are placed in a position to maintain their social value, particularly at the service of small local communities and more inland and disadvantaged areas, the elderly.
Undoubtedly the Polis project starts a small revolution and puts an end to the plundering of postal services in smaller towns and rural areas which has marked a long phase in past years and which the union has strongly opposed.
But – adds the UilPoste secretary – too many problems persist such as the “sword of Damocles” on the head of too many temporary contract workers, the not always safe conditions for postmen, the strong corporate pressure on financial services employees. The gaps left by colleagues leaving the Company due to retirement or being accompanied to retirement have not been filled, 15 thousand units across the country against approximately 8 thousand new entries”.
Hence the campaign launched on social media with slogans “We defend our work – We defend people” and “We are not simple couriers”.
“The work of those who were once called post and telegraph operators has changed profoundly – says Potenza – as a result of the transformation implemented in the postal sector, its natural evolution, connected to the advent of the net-economy and the digitization of work. For all of this, we believe that the forthcoming elections for the Rsu Poste in the two production units of Potenza and Matera are a great opportunity to give workers more voice and union weight and at the same time improve services for users”.
“The Post Office – underlines Tortorelli – is the company that made the history of our country. We want the municipal offices to become proximity offices, combining services useful to citizens, also with public administration functions.
We propose that they be supported and financed by the State, to make them become a proximity garrison. Poste Italiane cannot behave like banks that act where there is profit; they are there because they have to guarantee a service to people, especially the elderly and in conditions of hardship.
We will continue our commitment to monitor the situation of employment levels and active labor policies for the recruitment of young personnel and for this – concludes Tortorelli – we ask the workers to support the Uil team in the next RSU elections”.
