Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

This Bill enshrines the final steps towards full liberalisation of the postal services in Ireland. In doing that it represents the implementation of the baleful policy of the European Union which for decades now has been pushing the privatisation of all public services and enterprises within the European Union and for the handover, essentially, to European big business of key public services in the interests of private profit. That enshrines the fundamental basis of the European Union, which was to set out to create, which it has done, a massive market for European big business with as little regulation and control as it can get away with, in the interests of the maximisation of profit.

We should not mind the lofty talk one often hears in the corridors of the European Parliament, to which I was subjected on a weekly basis as a Member of the Parliament, about the primary purpose of the European Union being to create a paragon of democracy, a haven of peace and humanity and all that was good, flowing with the milk of human kindness. Unfortunately, as a member of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament, I saw a different reality where the priorities of the European Union, worldwide, in terms of the trade agreements that have and are being pushed with many countries and trading blocs around the world, notably in the poorer continents, are designed to allow open access to raw materials and markets by European-based multinationals which often do enormous damage to the environment and to the economies particularly of poorer countries. They damage small, local producers and in many cases treat workers disgracefully.

In many existing trade agreements and those currently being negotiated, the EU Commission puts a huge emphasis on opening up the public services of the countries with which it wants to make an agreement to European big business. It is insisting on the privatisation of public services so that European companies can muscle in and take over the profitable sectors of those services in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It is pushing in the same direction now with a proposed agreement with Canada. The policy of liberalisation and privatisation has done enormous damage at various times in many poorer areas. We saw that most dramatically in Bolivia in the early 2000s when European multinational water companies took over and began to charge for water, which put it out of the reach of poor people. Happily, there was a huge reaction - a revolution - against that and Bolivia took back control of the service.

That is no different to what is being proposed in the postal services directive for Europe. The library service of the European Parliament provided a briefing on the liberalisation of postal services which revealed some astonishing facts on the economic importance of this aspect of economic and social life within the European Union. It indicated that the postal sector in the European Union was estimated to be worth approximately €94 billion in 2007, equivalent to 0.7% of the gross domestic product of the Union. Of that €94 billion, the letter post market - its largest segment in terms of volume and revenue - amounts to €51.6 billion. Those are astonishing figures in terms of the scope and extent of postal services. It is little wonder that big business wanted to get its hands on significant sectors, in particular the profitable sectors, bearing in mind its importance to economic and social life and the large amounts of money involved.

The European Commission was the agent for European big business to deliver what it wanted, which is normal as far as big business interests are concerned. Therefore, from 1997 began the push within the European Union for the privatisation of postal services. That has been relentlessly implemented in many member states by right wing governments, whether the Christian Democrats of the family of the European Peoples Party, as it is known in the European Parliament, or the Social Democrat and Labour parties which have largely a similar right wing policy of pushing and facilitating liberalisation and privatisation.

The question to consider is the effect of the liberalisation of the postal services within the European Union in so far as we have experience of it to date. Let us see what the directive itself claimed in 2008. It stated:

Complete market-opening will help to expand the overall size of the postal markets. It will further contribute to maintaining sustainable and quality employment within universal service providers as well as facilitate the creation of new jobs in other operators, new entrants and associated economic sectors.

Unfortunately, all that has proven to be a monstrous lie when compared to the actual experience of liberalisation and privatisation within the postal services. Far from increasing the number of jobs, there is an ongoing slaughter of jobs within postal services in the European Union. The European Parliament Library briefing indicated that in Sweden between 1993 and 2005, a total of 16,000 jobs were eliminated by Sweden Post and only 2,000 created by private operators in that country over the same period. In Austria from 1995 to 2005 there was a reduction of 25% in the number of workers in the postal service. In Germany the reduction was 15%.

I accept that there has been a change in the means of communication in the past two decades. It is natural that it would have a certain effect on the postal services but that was well known by 2008 when the directive was promulgated. Therefore, what the European Commission was doing in 2008 was making false promises and opening up a reducing situation in the postal services to cut-throat competition, knowing well that the effect of that would be a further massacre of jobs but also a vicious race to the bottom in terms of wages for workers and in working conditions within the European postal services. Unfortunately, that has come to pass. Many of the private companies that have muscled in on the postal services are paying disgraceful wages far below the decency threshold and dramatically below the State-owned postal services companies where they still operate. Full-time jobs are being replaced wholesale by casual labour, with no contracts for workers, no social protection and a severe reduction in the quality of the working life of the workers concerned. In The Netherlands, for example, 11,000 postal service workers who were in full-time employment with the benefits of wages and social protection are now being pushed from their permanent jobs into a situation of casualisation with horrific working conditions, going from a full-time job with a wage to a payment per item delivered. That has had a drastic impact on the income and working conditions of those workers so that, for example, shockingly, in The Netherlands - where anyone who has visited knows it is not a cheap place to live - of those workers who are in the postal service on casual contracts, 63% are now on €7 per hour or less. If one takes into account their slack days and the fact they are paid per item delivered, one will note they are on the equivalent of €3 or €4 per hour. That is the reality of postal service liberalisation within the European Union.

In Germany workers for the private company TNT Post earn 50% to 60% less than the German post office workers, such that many are dependent on social welfare. The experience of the European Union, therefore, is horrific, yet the Government created by Fine Gael and the Labour Party is taking from Fianna Fáil this reactionary right-wing legislation unchanged and pushing it through in the same way as its predecessor.

In the past day or so, I was interested to hear some Labour Party Deputies whinge about some right-wing aspects of this legislation. They were expressing fears about what it could mean for the provision of universal postal services and workers. I will take those Deputies seriously if they are prepared to vote against this legislation and for amendments that would prevent the opening up to privatisation and liberalisation of our public services - in this case, the postal services - thereby defending the wages and living conditions of post office workers.

In Ireland, this Bill will have very serious repercussions. Private business interests will corral lucrative sections of the postal service, leaving An Post with the non-profitable sectors. This is clear.

The universal service guarantee is a public relations sop, and the European Commission knows this full well. In practice, An Post will be required to have a universal service, but without services provided. The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, if I understood his speech correctly, stated An Post would have to find the cost of providing a universal service from commercial revenues. This immediately puts the publicly owned entity at a disadvantage to privately owned profit-seeking operators who will have no such obligation. There is a real threat to postal services, including small post offices, on foot of this approach. In rural areas in particular, small post offices play a crucial public service role. They comprise a point of social interaction for elderly people, pensioners and others. The postman and postwoman cast a watchful eye on the elderly and vulnerable people in isolated areas. The brutal logic of the private profit system, as being imposed in the postal services, will not allow for these human considerations to be taken into account.

The alternative to the private profit-based system is to have the postal service continue in full public ownership, funded properly and with postal workers, clients and customers involved in its running and management. This would result in the provision of an excellent, affordable service with a social role, which we all want to see.

Is é atá i gceist sa Bhille um Rialáil Cumarsáide (Seirbhísí Poist) 2010 ná próiseas na seirbhísí poist a oscailt go dtí comhlachtaí príobháideacha a chur i gcrích. Cuireann sé i bhfeidhm fealsúnacht maorlathais an Aontas Eorpaigh maidir le príobháidiú seirbhísí poiblí, ar mhaithe le brabús an lucht mór ghnó. Ag cur in áireamh go bhfuil luach na seirbhísí poist san Aontas Eorpach thart ar €94 billiún in aghaidh na bliana - tá luach €51.6 billiún ar an roinn litreach amháin - tá sé soiléir go bhfuil airgead ollmhór i gceist. Tá na comhlachtaí móra ag lorg an brabús ón airgead sin. Ar ndóigh, tá an Coimisiún Eorpach ag obair i bhfábhar na comhlachtaí móra chun an chuid atá brabúsach - lena mbaineann an proifid - a thógaint amach as an tseirbhís phoist agus an chuid eile a fhágaint faoi úinéireacht phoiblí.

Níl aon dabht ach go mbeidh brú ollmhór ar an tseirbhís, go mórmhór faoin dtuath, agus ar coinníollacha oibre agus pá na n-oibrithe san earnáil seo. Tá 1.4 milliún duine ag obair sna seirbhísí poist san Aontas Eorpach. Is figiúr ollmhór é sin. I láthair na huaire, tá laghdú scanallach á dhéanamh ar phá an lucht oibre sin in an-chuid tíortha, de bharr an léirscaoileadh atá i gceist in oscailt an mhargaidh go dtí comhlachtaí móra príobháideacha. Má tá na gcomhlachtaí sin chun an brabús atá á lorg acu a dhéanamh, caithfidh siad brú síos ar pá agus coinníollacha na n-oibrithe. Tá sé sin ag tarlú san Ísiltír agus i dtíortha eile. Tá sé scannalach go bhfuil Fine Gael agus Páirtí an Lucht Oibre ag cur reachtaíocht chun cinn chun an rud ceanann céanna a dhéanamh sa tír bheag seo.

Caithfear buachaint ar an mBille seo. Caithfear cur ina aghaidh go tréan. Caithfimid ár seirbhís poist a choimeád in úinéireacht phoiblí, ach faoi stiúrú poiblí agus daonlathach, chun seirbhís níos fearr a sholáthar faoin tuath agus sna cathracha. Caithfimid pá agus coinníollacha réasúnta a thabhairt don lucht oibre san earnáil mhaith seo do mhuintir na tíre.

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