Printing Industries chief Bill Healey has slammed Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour over the national mail carrier’s plan to axe almost 2000 jobs.
“The decline in Australia Post mail volumes is being exacerbated by the CEO’s doom and gloom comments about the future of the industry,” said Healey. “There has been dramatic drop in mail in the 5 or 6 years since the current CEO took the job and some have questioned whether his background in banking is really the best training for a role in the logistics industry. He’s making an argument that cutting staff will provide more efficiency but that is not the answer.”
Australia Post lacks a plan to transform to the digital economy, said Healey.
“They need a strategy. If you look at their senior management, they’re paid a substantial amount of money but they have no blueprint for the future, just a lot of short-termism. Of course the industry is facing challenges but there are many areas of opportunity. We’re seeing a lot of innovation in many areas, including direct mail, promotional mail and transactional mail, and the decline in mail volumes already has stabilised in many other countries.
“We talk to Australia Post on behalf of the printing industry but you can’t really consult with them. We’ve requested that they sit down and talk to all industry stakeholders to map out a sustainable future for the industry. But they hold meetings and just tell you what they’re going to do. They’re making a lot of strategic decisions without consultation and we’re very disappointed," said Healey.
Australia Post said on Friday that losses in its mail delivery business totalled almost $500 million this financial year, taking losses to more than $1.5 billion over the past five years.
“We have reached the tipping point that we have been warning about where, without reform, the business becomes unsustainable,” said Fahour, in announcing that Australia Post would spend $190m on a voluntary redundancy program to cut almost 2000 jobs over the next three years because of the decline in the volume of letters. Fahour, who earlier this year floated the possibility of a two-speed postal service, said there would be no change to mail being delivered five days a week.
Union leaders have called on Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to sack Fahour. "The Australian economy relies on a fast, cheap, postal service to move the cheques, documents and parcels to keep business working,” said Martin O'Nea, assistant national secretary of the Communication Workers Union. “Mr Fahour plans to cut thousands of posties and double the price of a stamp. Mr Fahour and his crazy plan must go.”