Polish post office to lay off 5,000 workers

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Poczta Polska (PP), the Polish post office, is to lay off 5,000 workers by the end of October, reports PAP. In response to the announcement, the labor union Solidarity plans to picket government offices in Poznań on March 2 and in Warsaw on March 16.

"We hope that there'll be real negotiations with the government, which is the owner of our firm," said Bogumił Nowicki, president of the National Communications Secretariat of Solidarity. "For the time being, we're not talking about a strike," he added.

The union also claims the government is breaking the law related to mass redundancies, so is considering petitioning the prosecutor's office. At present, however, it has not given any details of the alleged crime.

The redundancies result from PP's plans to liquidate 3,000 post offices which are to be replaced with sales points located in gas stations and convenience stores.

The changes are intended to make PP competitive before 2013, when the market will be opened to other post offices from the European Union.