UNI Apro Post & Logistics
1 POSTAL NEWS No 06-2022
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1.IT/AS Tentative Agreement Extension Reached! January 21, 2022.
2.Cainiao commits US$47 million to safeguard global logistics services. January 20, 2022.
3.Post Office employees get booster jabs. January 20, 2022.
4.The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office. January 18, 2022.
5.Posti Group acquires the Swedish logistics company Veddestagruppen. January 17, 2022.
1.IT/AS Tentative Agreement Extension Reached! January 21, 2022
The American Postal Workers and the United States Postal Service have reached a Tentative Extension Agreement for the Information Technology (IT)/Accounting Service (AS) Collective Bargaining Agreement. The parties have agreed to accept a 22-month extension agreement which will expire on May 17, 2022.
This agreement is retroactive from July 17, 2020. The parties have agreed to retroactive salary increases as follows:-
General Increases: • January 16, 2021: 1% guaranteed increase with potentially a 1.3% increase should the APWU main agreement terms ratify. • January 15, 2022: 1% guaranteed increase with potentially a 1.3% increase should the APWU main agreement terms ratify.
Cost of Living (COLA) : continue with the same formula using the March 2020 index. PP 24/2020 $395, PP 11/2021 $770, PP 24/2021 $1560, and a future COLA effective PP 11/2022.
Additional Salary Increases: In addition to the retroactive salary increases, the parties have agreed to restructure the salary schedule for the N and N2 schedules for levels 19-23. There will be a new top step salary in those levels which will be increased by 4% of the current schedule. This will be established by adding two steps to the current salary schedule with a reduced 36 week step wait period between the new steps. The parties also agreed to increase the number of paid holidays by Juneteenth to the list.
Work Rule Improvements: The parties worked to realign contractual language with the language in the main APWU agreement, which had not been changed as changes were made under the main agreement. Language changes were agreed upon for Article 2, 8, 15, 31, 33, 37, 38, and MOU’s on a guaranteed complement of bargaining unit programmers. We have two MOU’s for pilot telework agreements that we will sign outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which have taken a lot of time to develop and for the parties to come to agreement on.
"These negotiations have been a long and draining process but it became time for the parties to agree to what they could accept at this time so as to get the salary increases in the members pockets. The extension will be expiring very quickly but it became necessary for the APWU to accept what it could for the members, and move on to fight another day," stated Support Services Director Steve Brooks.
Source : https://apwu.org/news/itas-tentative-agreement-extension-reached-0
2.Cainiao commits US$47 million to safeguard global logistics services January 20, 2022
Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, is committing RMB 300 million (US$47 million) in subsidies to incentivise over 150,000 logistics employees and courier personnel in 300 Chinese cities. These personnel play an essential role in safeguarding logistics services ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival holiday in China.
For consumers, this means that eCommerce purchases made on Alibaba platforms such as Taobao and Tmall will be dispatched as per normal, both in China and around the world. In 2021, Chinese consumers alone spent approximately US$127 billion on shopping and dining, a 28.7 percent increase from 2020. Other countries also saw growth in retail consumption during the Spring Festival last year. For example, Singapore recorded a 5.2 percent year-onyear increase in retail sales and Malaysia saw a spike in online shopping figures last year. These figures are expected to increase this year as a result of growing consumers’ desire to send new year gifts to their loved ones who are physically separated due to the pandemic. In anticipation of a surge in consumer demand, Cainiao’s warehouses spanning tens of millions square meters have pre-stocked over 200 million festive-related goods, with export warehouses seeing five times increase in pre-stock volume compared to last year.
The pre-stocked goods include food, beauty products, furniture, household items and electronic appliances to support cross-border deliveries for over 10,000 Chinese merchants. For overseas consumers in over 200 countries and regions, Cainiao’s export and overseas warehouses will maintain normal operations to ensure logistics timeliness of cross-border parcels. This extends to cross-border logistics services for Lazada’s customers in Southeast Asia, where there are Cainiao’s distribution centers and warehouses in various cities. Cainiao will also subsidize selected cross-border logistics routes and services so that export merchants can enjoy the most cost-effective logistics services. In addition, Cainiao’s warehouses in over 30 industrial manufacturing belts will support the logistics needs of manufacturers to facilitate direct dispatch from factories to consumers in 300 Chinese cities, of which consumers in 209 cities will experience the same logistics efficiency as before. Cainiao’s bonded warehouses situated near 20 ports in China will upkeep regular operations to further safeguard delivery timeliness of imported goods from thousands of overseas merchants to consumers in 200 Chinese cities, while doubling the delivery radius from last year. In the last mile, over 50,000 Cainiao Post stations across 198 Chinese cities will remain serviceable, ensuring that Chinese consumers continue to enjoy the convenience of doorstep deliveries for their Taobao and Tmall eCommerce orders. During the week of the Spring Festival celebration between 30th January and 5th February, eCommerce orders made before 3 p.m. will be delivered by Cainiao Post to consumers’ doorsteps before 9 p.m. on the same day. This service standard and delivery timeliness are made possible due to the contributions and dedication of over 100,000 Cainiao Post employees.
Source : https://postandparcel.info/146269/news/e-commerce/cainiao-commits-us47-millionto-safeguard-global-logistics-services
3.Post Office employees get booster jabs January 20, 2022
Postmaster General Norman Fulgencio of the Philippine Post Office has announced that they have conducted and administered the first batch of booster jabs on 1,000 post office frontline personnel and their eligible dependents with the assistance from Presidential Adviser for COVID-19 Response Secretary Vince Dizon and the City of Manila under the leadership of Mayor Isko Moreno.
Another 2,500 doses will be allocated for the 2nd batch post office employees and their eligible dependents this coming February 03. “At the start of the year, a total of 3,500 booster shots has been allotted to post office employees and their families which is necessary to protect them against Omicron variant of COVID-19.”, Fulgencio said. He added, “getting a Covid Vaccine booster shot gives public confidence that we are serving, including post office personnel and letter carriers they are dealing with are fully vaccinated with booster, erasing fear and doubts of acquiring the virus”. Postal Areas nationwide are advised to coordinate with their local Barangay Health Unit. “We are taking early guard to make our employees safe against new cases of infection surge across the country”, Fulgencio noted. The government noted that vaccinations and boosters help lower the mortality risk and the burden on the country’s health infrastructure. Postmaster General Norman “Mr. Postman” Fulgencio thanked the Office of the President headed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for their support in the vaccination of post office workers and for his continuing effort to protect employees from contracting the virus to keep the workplace safe. “It is necessary for our essential workers to secure vaccines most especially the letter carriers who are usually exposed in the field, as they continue to interact with the public in delivering mails and parcels”, he said.
Source : https://www.phlpost.gov.ph/2022/01/20/post-office-employees-get-booster-jabs
4.The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office January 18, 2022
The private customer e-service environment My Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to a courier or post office. According to Agnes Oidsalu, the Head of Digital Channels of Omniva, the innovation will make the lives of customers more convenient, as it will save time spent on sending parcels at the post office and allows planning the delivery of parcels sent by courier better. ‘We plan to further improve My Omniva so that the customers of Omniva can conveniently access information about their shipments and services from one place. The availability and continuous improvement of digital channels is one of the important priorities of Omniva in the near future,’ added Oidsalu. The update allows those who want to send a parcel by courier to indicate in the My Omniva environment the time when they want the courier to pick up the parcel. After registering the parcel in the My Omniva environment and before handing it over to the courier or post office, the parcel code and the telephone number of the recipient/sender must be written on the parcel. This way, the employee of Omniva has all the necessary information about the shipment. Pre-registering the parcel in the e-service makes the handing over of the parcel to the post office faster and smoother for the customer. In the My Omniva environment, private customers can register parcels to Estonia as well as to Latvia and Lithuania, direct the arrived parcel to another parcel machine, and apply for an extension of the storage period for the parcel. In the My Omniva environment, customers canalso specify their preferred parcel machines to which future shipments arriving at the post office will be sent, track their shipments, and add their contact number, which Omniva can use to send a text message notification when parcels arrive instead of a paper notification. The My Omniva e-service also provides information on the locations and opening hours of parcel machines and post offices.
Source : The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office
5.Posti Group acquires the Swedish logistics company Veddestagruppen January 17, 2022
On January 16, 2022, Posti Group Corporation and the owners of Veddestagruppen have signed an agreement, under which Posti Group will acquire the entire share capital of Veddestagruppen AB. Veddestagruppen is majority-owned by PEQ Invest and members of the company management. Veddestagruppen will be integrated with Posti Group’s Swedish subsidiary Aditro Logistics after the closing. The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction price. Founded in 1992, Veddestagruppen is a logistics company providing services within contract logistics, transportation, field services and staffing in the Stockholm region. In 2020, the company had net sales of around SEK 187 (EUR 18) million. The company employs around 300 people.
“This acquisition is perfectly in line with our strategic objectives, and it accelerates our transition to a strong fulfillment player within eCommerce and enhances our position within B2B. With similar business models, we see strong synergies between Aditro Logistics and Veddestagruppen for example in increased flexibility and scalability in the region of Stockholm and Mälardalen. We are already neighbors in Arlandastad so with merged production, we´ll increase our capacity and expand the pool of value-added services. This will strengthen our capability to tailor services after customers’ specific needs and to seamlessly handle end-to-end logistics and fulfillment – while customers can focus on growing their core business. Veddestagruppen’s current customers will benefit from our techdriven approach, derived from our automated and digital platform. Aditro Logistics and Veddestagruppen will improve the end-to-end logistics for all company sizes within ecommerce, retail and FMCG. Together we are becoming a one-stop-shop for logistics,” says Per Zandrén, CEO of Aditro Logistics.
“It is with great excitement and anticipation that Veddestagruppen with Aditro Logistics as new owner steps into the next chapter of the journey that began 30 years ago. Aditro Logistics' geographical strength, innovation, experience and strong owners in Posti Group enable us to offer enhanced and advanced concepts. Through our combined strength, we can design models to solve challenges that today create headaches for many companies. It is important for our continued development to now be part of a very ambitious, strong and growing group,” says Jonas Eriksson, CEO of Veddestagruppen.
“Since PEQ’s investment a little less than four years ago, Veddestagruppen has continued its growth journey, moved to the new premises with 50 % increased capacity, and further strengthened its position as one of the leading players in e-commerce, always focusing on the client’s demands. It is my firm belief that Veddestagruppen’s successful journey only has begun, and that management together with the new owner Aditro Logistics will continue and accelerate this development”, says Greger Ericsson, CEO of PEQ and Chairman of the Board of Veddestagruppen.
The acquisition of Veddestagruppen strengthens Posti Group’s growth in line with its strategy. “Aditro Logistics has an important role in achieving our strategic goals of growing through parcel business and logistics in Finland, Sweden and the Baltics. Aditro Logistics is a forerunner of delivery and fullfilment services in Sweden and with Veddestagruppen we can expand and strengthen our capabilities even further to better serve our customers. We learn a lot from them as a Group,” says Turkka Kuusisto, President and CEO of Posti Group.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. After the closing, Veddestagruppen will be integrated into Aditro Logistics, a Business Group within Posti. The current management of Veddestagruppen will continue to work for the joint company.
Source : https://www.posti.com/en/media/media-news/2021/posti-group-acquires-theswedish-logistics-company-veddestagruppen/
UNI Apro Post & Logistics
1 POSTAL NEWS No 05-2022
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1.Australia Post launches new Education Hub to help teachers connect kids across the country. January 21, 2022.
2.PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes. December 20, 2021.
3.Post Office Horizon scandal – was racism an issue? January 19, 2022.
4.All-time record: Swiss Post handles more than 200 million parcels in a single year for the first time. January 18, 2022.
5. J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. January 17, 2022
1.Australia Post launches new Education Hub to help teachers connect kids across the country January 21, 2022.
This week, Australia Post has launched a brand-new Education Hub to bring its many curriculum-aligned resources together and is encouraging teachers to help their students discover the joy of letter writing through its popular Pen Pal Club. The range of educational resources on the online hub covers topics such as literacy and letter writing, First Nations culture, stamps, coins and collectables and STEAM subjects through activity guides, lesson plans and templates. Australia Post Head of Consumer Marketing Corrina Brazel said the educational resources were a popular way for teachers to help their students develop important skills and establish connections with other kids right around the country. “Australia Post has always been about connecting people, and with our free, fun and engaging lesson plans we create content designed specifically to help classrooms discover, learn and connect,” Ms Brazel said. “We’ve offered the Pen Pal Club since 2019 and it’s a great way to kick off the school year to help teachers connect their students with others across Australia, especially this year when it’s never been more important.” Young entrepreneur Jack Berne, who raised $1.8 million dollars through his Fiver for a Farmer initiative, has teamed up with Australia Post to champion letter writing for kids. “I discovered pen pals last year when I found a box of my Mum’s letters and she told me whatthey were,” he said.
I didn’t even know how to address an envelope but thought it would be great to hear from other kids my age from different parts of the country, so I think the Pen Pal Club is something that all schools should get involved in.”
The Pen Pal Club is open year-round to any educator employed by a nationally recognised early learning centre, kindergarten or primary school in Australia and is free to join. Teachers can register at any time and Australia Post will help to connect them with other classrooms based on classroom size, location and age group. The launch of the new Education Hub comes hot off the heels of Australia Post asking kids to help Australia Post find its first-ever mascot and go in the draw to win an overnight experience at Taronga Zoo for two adults and two children, plus a $2,000 flight gift card to help get them there.
Source : https://newsroom.auspost.com.au/article/australia-post-launches-new-education-hubto-help-teachers-connect-kids-across-the-country
2.PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes December 20, 2021
The Hague, the Netherlands, 20 December 2021 - PostNL is pulling out all the stops to deliver all mail and parcels on time in the hectic next few weeks. The busy peak season invariably involves additional measures being taken. And last Saturday, the Netherlands government announced a strict lockdown, requiring non-essential shops to close until at least mid-January. The additional measures PostNL already has taken for peak season will be extended to absorb the extra pressure.
Increased delivery capabilities until mid-January PostNL has been busy upscaling its parcel delivery capabilities significantly since midNovember, in the run-up to Black Friday and the Saint Nicholas Day celebrations. On a regular day, PostNL delivers some 1.1 million parcels, but the peak season can see daily numbers surge to 2 million. The country’s fresh lockdown has prompted PostNL to extend its peak season measures until at least 14 January 2022, with its sorting centres running 24/7 every day of the week and some 1,500 extra parcel deliverers hitting the streets every day. Liesbeth Kaashoek, PostNL’s Director of Parcels & Logistics, comments: "The lockdown in December 2020 taught us how important it is for businesses and consumers to stay in touch, and our deliverers, drivers, sorters and all other colleagues help us to facilitate this and serve as the connecting link. Once again, we’ll get out there to ensure that the rest of the country can stay at home. We’re doing everything within our power to keep doing our jobs in a healthy, safe and efficient way."
Extra mail delivery days
On any typical day, PostNL’s around 19,000 postal delivery people deliver over 8 million letters on average, with numbers rising to around 12 million a day in the run-up to the holidays. PostNL has taken a variety of measures to prepare for this seasonal peak, including extra scheduled delivery days on Mondays 20 and 27 December and more frequent post box collection times.
More people
Health and safety first
Being extremely busy, PostNL may come very close to maximum network capacity on certain days going forward, and it may occasionally take longer for parcels to be delivered than usual. This will really depend on how much more people order online with non-essential shops closed until at least mid-January – PostNL is and will remain in close contact with webstores about the state of play. At this point, it is unclear what the impact of the Omicron variant will be on employee absence through illness, but the health of employees at its sorting centres and other locations will of course come first. In other words, everyone should be able to continue to do their jobs safely One thing PostNL is currently working on is to get in more people to help deliver mail and parcels over the next few weeks. It is investigating the option of offering work to people who are temporarily out of work because of this latest lockdown, as it did in the December 2020. As well as deliverers, this also involves drivers and sorting centre workers.
PostNL points open during lockdown
Shops hosting a PostNL point are allowed to remain open for collecting and dispensing mail and parcels, and for selling ordinary and festive-season stamps. Owners will receive extra compensation from PostNL for keeping these points open, on top of their usual fees.
Source : PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes | PostNL
3.Post Office Horizon scandal – was racism an issue?January 19, 2022
Bosses “must come clean” on ethnic background of prosecuted postmasters and Post Office’s power to prosecute “has had its day” says Andy Furey.
“Horizon is already a by-word for one of the worst miscarriages of justice – but it’s even more shocking to think that there could have been an element of racism on the part of the
Post Office’s investigators,” said CWU assistant secretary Andy, in response to an article recently published by Britain’s best-known Asian publication Eastern Eye. The article – by Eastern Eye journalist Amit Roy – opens with the question: ‘Were Asians unfairly treated in Post Office Horizon scandal?’ Author Nick Wallis, whose book (seen on page 29 of The Voice) is a comprehensive account of the whole Horizon affair, is quoted at length in Roy’s feature, saying: ‘Anecdotally, I think, non-white sub-postmasters got bigger sentences’. Among those cited in the piece are a pregnant mother of Asian background sentenced to 15 months and an Asian man sent down for three years – both convictions which, ultimately, were overturned by the Court of Appeal. Commenting on the second of the two examples, Wallis tells Roy: ‘I don’t know anyone who’s got a sentence like that who is white – nowhere near it’. Eastern Eye’s request for a list of the 738 postmasters who were convicted between 2000 and 2015, in order to investigate the matter further, was rejected by The Post Office for, in their words, ‘data protection reasons’. But Wallis argues that ‘it’s a matter of public record who these people are, because they were convicted in the courts. And their sentences will be a matter of public record as well as the amount of money they were said to have stolen’ and he goes on to suggest that the submission of formal, Freedom of Information, requests could yield more details and make the true picture much clearer. Andy Furey insists that this aspect of the scandal “must be fully investigated” and that “if there is some solid and substantive data clearly indicating a discriminatory approach by either the Post Office or its prosecuting arm, then this must be revealed and those responsible must be held fully accountable.” The Horizon Inquiry, which is currently in process under retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, is expected to make a range of recommendations to the Government when it concludes and among the issues revealed by the scandal has been the absence of safeguards or checks preventing potential abuse of power by the Post Office. “Like any other institution or indeed individual, the Post Office has the legal right to bring private prosecutions – but unlike private companies or private individuals, the Post Office is able to draw on the unlimited financial resources of the state to fund its legal actions,” Andy explains.
“Just this past week, Computer Weekly journalist Karl Flinders – who, like Nick Wallis, is a real credit to his profession in terms of the sheer work he has done uncovering this scandal and keeping it in the spotlight – revealed in detail the cost to the UK taxpayer in 2021, which may have exceeded £1 billion. “But on the other hand, the Post Office’s legal decisions are not subject to the public accountability of the Crown Prosecution Service. “It’s becoming increasingly obvious that this lack of oversight was a major factor in the bringing to court of these fundamentally unsound prosecutions of postmasters – and if racism was also a factor, then this lack of accountability could well be a reason why that was allowed to happen too. “We have called for this to be changed and we repeat that call now. “And we also demand that the possibility of racism by the Post Office must be fully investigated too. “The victims of this scandal deserve nothing less”
Source : https://www.cwu.org/news/post-office-horizon-scandal-was-racism-an-issue
4.All-time record: Swiss Post handles more than 200 million parcels in a single year for the first time January 18, 2022
Swiss Post staff processed 202.1 million parcels in 2021, which is a new record in the company’s history. Compared with the previous year, it represents a 9.6 percent increase in parcel volumes. The downward trend in letter mail continued in 2021, with mail carriers delivering 1,811 million addressed letters last year, 3.3 percent fewer letters than in the previous year. Swiss Post created 809 additional full-time jobs in its logistics unit over the course of 2021. It is thanks to the huge commitment of all staff that the company has managed to maintain its services in these challenging pandemic times. Parcel volumes continued to rise in the second year of the pandemic. This sharp rise is due to the boom in online retail, which has been driven in part by Covid restrictions and working from home. In 2021, 202.1 million parcels were sorted by Swiss Post staff at sorting centers and delivered throughout Switzerland and abroad. This represents a 9.6 percent rise in parcel volumes compared with the first year of the pandemic (2020: 184.4 million parcels) and a sharp increase of around 35 percent on 2019. This is the first time in Swiss Post’s history thatit has processed more than 200 million parcels within a single year − an achievement that was only possible thanks to long-term planning and the tireless commitment of Swiss Post staff throughout Switzerland.
Letter volumes continue to fall
Although the number of letters sent has been falling for years, Swiss Post mail carriers continued to process an impressive volume of addressed letters in 2021, with a total of 1,811 million across the year. This represents a 3.3 percent decline in letter mail year-on-year (2020: 1.873 billion). Over the last ten years, letter volumes have decreased by around 30 percent.
809 additional full-time jobs created in 2021
2021 saw more parcels and fewer letters. These developments vindicate Swiss Post’s decision to merge the organization of letter and parcel processing at Swiss Post at the start of 2021. Combining the letter and parcel businesses into one logistics unit has secured jobs and also guarantees flexibility in exceptional times, with up to 200,000 small parcels sorted in Swiss Post’s letter centers every day last year. Letter mail carriers now deliver around a half of all parcels. Swiss Post was also able to create 809 new full-time jobs in the merged logistics unit last year alone, while offering staff in the new unit more varied prospects.
Swiss Post to invest around 1.5 billion francs in its infrastructure by 2030 Swiss Post expects the upward trend in parcel volumes to continue in the future. Accordingly, the company is making further investments in its logistics, with the goal of doubling sorting capacity by 2030. Specifically, Swiss Post will invest around 1.5 billion francs in its sorting and delivery infrastructure by 2030. This will include expanding and modernizing the existing centers, while also building additional regional parcel centers. These investments will enable Swiss Post to secure existing jobs and create an estimated 1,500 new positions by 2030.
Source : https://www.post.ch/en/about-us/media/press-releases/2022/all-time-record-swisspost-handles-more-than-200-million-parcels-in-a-single-year-for-the-first-time
5. J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia January 17, 2022
International express logistics company J&T Express has launched express networks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, bringing its network coverage to 10 countries. The two countries are the first markets in the Middle East to be covered by J&T Express. The company’s Middle East expansion plans began in April 2021 and were followed by eight months of inspection, site selection and trial operations. J&T Express’s nationwide distribution network in the UAE and localized warehousing system in Saudi Arabia now cover all local provinces and regions in the two countries. Versions of the J&T Express mobile application have also been launched simultaneously for the new networks.
Steven Fan, CEO of J&T Express, said, “The expansion to the UAE and Saudi Arabia marks an important step for J&T Express in establishing a global delivery network. In the future, the company will actively explore opportunities in emerging markets as part of its global strategy to connect the world with greater efficiency and bring logistical benefits to all.” Sean Xiao, head of J&T Express Middle East, said, “We hope that with J&T Express’s efficient and comprehensive delivery network, we can effectively improve the shopping experience of consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and contribute to the development of the e-commerce industry in both countries.”
Source : J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia - Parcel and Postal Technology International
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1.IT/AS Tentative Agreement Extension Reached! January 21, 2022.
2.Cainiao commits US$47 million to safeguard global logistics services. January 20, 2022.
3.Post Office employees get booster jabs. January 20, 2022.
4.The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office. January 18, 2022.
5.Posti Group acquires the Swedish logistics company Veddestagruppen. January 17, 2022.
1.IT/AS Tentative Agreement Extension Reached! January 21, 2022
The American Postal Workers and the United States Postal Service have reached a Tentative Extension Agreement for the Information Technology (IT)/Accounting Service (AS) Collective Bargaining Agreement. The parties have agreed to accept a 22-month extension agreement which will expire on May 17, 2022.
This agreement is retroactive from July 17, 2020. The parties have agreed to retroactive salary increases as follows:-
General Increases: • January 16, 2021: 1% guaranteed increase with potentially a 1.3% increase should the APWU main agreement terms ratify. • January 15, 2022: 1% guaranteed increase with potentially a 1.3% increase should the APWU main agreement terms ratify.
Cost of Living (COLA) : continue with the same formula using the March 2020 index. PP 24/2020 $395, PP 11/2021 $770, PP 24/2021 $1560, and a future COLA effective PP 11/2022.
Additional Salary Increases: In addition to the retroactive salary increases, the parties have agreed to restructure the salary schedule for the N and N2 schedules for levels 19-23. There will be a new top step salary in those levels which will be increased by 4% of the current schedule. This will be established by adding two steps to the current salary schedule with a reduced 36 week step wait period between the new steps. The parties also agreed to increase the number of paid holidays by Juneteenth to the list.
Work Rule Improvements: The parties worked to realign contractual language with the language in the main APWU agreement, which had not been changed as changes were made under the main agreement. Language changes were agreed upon for Article 2, 8, 15, 31, 33, 37, 38, and MOU’s on a guaranteed complement of bargaining unit programmers. We have two MOU’s for pilot telework agreements that we will sign outside of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which have taken a lot of time to develop and for the parties to come to agreement on.
"These negotiations have been a long and draining process but it became time for the parties to agree to what they could accept at this time so as to get the salary increases in the members pockets. The extension will be expiring very quickly but it became necessary for the APWU to accept what it could for the members, and move on to fight another day," stated Support Services Director Steve Brooks.
Source : https://apwu.org/news/itas-tentative-agreement-extension-reached-0
2.Cainiao commits US$47 million to safeguard global logistics services January 20, 2022
Cainiao, the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, is committing RMB 300 million (US$47 million) in subsidies to incentivise over 150,000 logistics employees and courier personnel in 300 Chinese cities. These personnel play an essential role in safeguarding logistics services ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival holiday in China.
For consumers, this means that eCommerce purchases made on Alibaba platforms such as Taobao and Tmall will be dispatched as per normal, both in China and around the world. In 2021, Chinese consumers alone spent approximately US$127 billion on shopping and dining, a 28.7 percent increase from 2020. Other countries also saw growth in retail consumption during the Spring Festival last year. For example, Singapore recorded a 5.2 percent year-onyear increase in retail sales and Malaysia saw a spike in online shopping figures last year. These figures are expected to increase this year as a result of growing consumers’ desire to send new year gifts to their loved ones who are physically separated due to the pandemic. In anticipation of a surge in consumer demand, Cainiao’s warehouses spanning tens of millions square meters have pre-stocked over 200 million festive-related goods, with export warehouses seeing five times increase in pre-stock volume compared to last year.
The pre-stocked goods include food, beauty products, furniture, household items and electronic appliances to support cross-border deliveries for over 10,000 Chinese merchants. For overseas consumers in over 200 countries and regions, Cainiao’s export and overseas warehouses will maintain normal operations to ensure logistics timeliness of cross-border parcels. This extends to cross-border logistics services for Lazada’s customers in Southeast Asia, where there are Cainiao’s distribution centers and warehouses in various cities. Cainiao will also subsidize selected cross-border logistics routes and services so that export merchants can enjoy the most cost-effective logistics services. In addition, Cainiao’s warehouses in over 30 industrial manufacturing belts will support the logistics needs of manufacturers to facilitate direct dispatch from factories to consumers in 300 Chinese cities, of which consumers in 209 cities will experience the same logistics efficiency as before. Cainiao’s bonded warehouses situated near 20 ports in China will upkeep regular operations to further safeguard delivery timeliness of imported goods from thousands of overseas merchants to consumers in 200 Chinese cities, while doubling the delivery radius from last year. In the last mile, over 50,000 Cainiao Post stations across 198 Chinese cities will remain serviceable, ensuring that Chinese consumers continue to enjoy the convenience of doorstep deliveries for their Taobao and Tmall eCommerce orders. During the week of the Spring Festival celebration between 30th January and 5th February, eCommerce orders made before 3 p.m. will be delivered by Cainiao Post to consumers’ doorsteps before 9 p.m. on the same day. This service standard and delivery timeliness are made possible due to the contributions and dedication of over 100,000 Cainiao Post employees.
Source : https://postandparcel.info/146269/news/e-commerce/cainiao-commits-us47-millionto-safeguard-global-logistics-services
3.Post Office employees get booster jabs January 20, 2022
Postmaster General Norman Fulgencio of the Philippine Post Office has announced that they have conducted and administered the first batch of booster jabs on 1,000 post office frontline personnel and their eligible dependents with the assistance from Presidential Adviser for COVID-19 Response Secretary Vince Dizon and the City of Manila under the leadership of Mayor Isko Moreno.
Another 2,500 doses will be allocated for the 2nd batch post office employees and their eligible dependents this coming February 03. “At the start of the year, a total of 3,500 booster shots has been allotted to post office employees and their families which is necessary to protect them against Omicron variant of COVID-19.”, Fulgencio said. He added, “getting a Covid Vaccine booster shot gives public confidence that we are serving, including post office personnel and letter carriers they are dealing with are fully vaccinated with booster, erasing fear and doubts of acquiring the virus”. Postal Areas nationwide are advised to coordinate with their local Barangay Health Unit. “We are taking early guard to make our employees safe against new cases of infection surge across the country”, Fulgencio noted. The government noted that vaccinations and boosters help lower the mortality risk and the burden on the country’s health infrastructure. Postmaster General Norman “Mr. Postman” Fulgencio thanked the Office of the President headed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for their support in the vaccination of post office workers and for his continuing effort to protect employees from contracting the virus to keep the workplace safe. “It is necessary for our essential workers to secure vaccines most especially the letter carriers who are usually exposed in the field, as they continue to interact with the public in delivering mails and parcels”, he said.
Source : https://www.phlpost.gov.ph/2022/01/20/post-office-employees-get-booster-jabs
4.The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office January 18, 2022
The private customer e-service environment My Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to a courier or post office. According to Agnes Oidsalu, the Head of Digital Channels of Omniva, the innovation will make the lives of customers more convenient, as it will save time spent on sending parcels at the post office and allows planning the delivery of parcels sent by courier better. ‘We plan to further improve My Omniva so that the customers of Omniva can conveniently access information about their shipments and services from one place. The availability and continuous improvement of digital channels is one of the important priorities of Omniva in the near future,’ added Oidsalu. The update allows those who want to send a parcel by courier to indicate in the My Omniva environment the time when they want the courier to pick up the parcel. After registering the parcel in the My Omniva environment and before handing it over to the courier or post office, the parcel code and the telephone number of the recipient/sender must be written on the parcel. This way, the employee of Omniva has all the necessary information about the shipment. Pre-registering the parcel in the e-service makes the handing over of the parcel to the post office faster and smoother for the customer. In the My Omniva environment, private customers can register parcels to Estonia as well as to Latvia and Lithuania, direct the arrived parcel to another parcel machine, and apply for an extension of the storage period for the parcel. In the My Omniva environment, customers canalso specify their preferred parcel machines to which future shipments arriving at the post office will be sent, track their shipments, and add their contact number, which Omniva can use to send a text message notification when parcels arrive instead of a paper notification. The My Omniva e-service also provides information on the locations and opening hours of parcel machines and post offices.
Source : The e-service environment of Omniva can now also be used to register parcels to be handed over to the courier and post office
5.Posti Group acquires the Swedish logistics company Veddestagruppen January 17, 2022
On January 16, 2022, Posti Group Corporation and the owners of Veddestagruppen have signed an agreement, under which Posti Group will acquire the entire share capital of Veddestagruppen AB. Veddestagruppen is majority-owned by PEQ Invest and members of the company management. Veddestagruppen will be integrated with Posti Group’s Swedish subsidiary Aditro Logistics after the closing. The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction price. Founded in 1992, Veddestagruppen is a logistics company providing services within contract logistics, transportation, field services and staffing in the Stockholm region. In 2020, the company had net sales of around SEK 187 (EUR 18) million. The company employs around 300 people.
“This acquisition is perfectly in line with our strategic objectives, and it accelerates our transition to a strong fulfillment player within eCommerce and enhances our position within B2B. With similar business models, we see strong synergies between Aditro Logistics and Veddestagruppen for example in increased flexibility and scalability in the region of Stockholm and Mälardalen. We are already neighbors in Arlandastad so with merged production, we´ll increase our capacity and expand the pool of value-added services. This will strengthen our capability to tailor services after customers’ specific needs and to seamlessly handle end-to-end logistics and fulfillment – while customers can focus on growing their core business. Veddestagruppen’s current customers will benefit from our techdriven approach, derived from our automated and digital platform. Aditro Logistics and Veddestagruppen will improve the end-to-end logistics for all company sizes within ecommerce, retail and FMCG. Together we are becoming a one-stop-shop for logistics,” says Per Zandrén, CEO of Aditro Logistics.
“It is with great excitement and anticipation that Veddestagruppen with Aditro Logistics as new owner steps into the next chapter of the journey that began 30 years ago. Aditro Logistics' geographical strength, innovation, experience and strong owners in Posti Group enable us to offer enhanced and advanced concepts. Through our combined strength, we can design models to solve challenges that today create headaches for many companies. It is important for our continued development to now be part of a very ambitious, strong and growing group,” says Jonas Eriksson, CEO of Veddestagruppen.
“Since PEQ’s investment a little less than four years ago, Veddestagruppen has continued its growth journey, moved to the new premises with 50 % increased capacity, and further strengthened its position as one of the leading players in e-commerce, always focusing on the client’s demands. It is my firm belief that Veddestagruppen’s successful journey only has begun, and that management together with the new owner Aditro Logistics will continue and accelerate this development”, says Greger Ericsson, CEO of PEQ and Chairman of the Board of Veddestagruppen.
The acquisition of Veddestagruppen strengthens Posti Group’s growth in line with its strategy. “Aditro Logistics has an important role in achieving our strategic goals of growing through parcel business and logistics in Finland, Sweden and the Baltics. Aditro Logistics is a forerunner of delivery and fullfilment services in Sweden and with Veddestagruppen we can expand and strengthen our capabilities even further to better serve our customers. We learn a lot from them as a Group,” says Turkka Kuusisto, President and CEO of Posti Group.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. After the closing, Veddestagruppen will be integrated into Aditro Logistics, a Business Group within Posti. The current management of Veddestagruppen will continue to work for the joint company.
Source : https://www.posti.com/en/media/media-news/2021/posti-group-acquires-theswedish-logistics-company-veddestagruppen/
UNI Apro Post & Logistics
1 POSTAL NEWS No 05-2022
Formulated by UNI Apro Post and Logistics Sector
1.Australia Post launches new Education Hub to help teachers connect kids across the country. January 21, 2022.
2.PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes. December 20, 2021.
3.Post Office Horizon scandal – was racism an issue? January 19, 2022.
4.All-time record: Swiss Post handles more than 200 million parcels in a single year for the first time. January 18, 2022.
5. J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. January 17, 2022
1.Australia Post launches new Education Hub to help teachers connect kids across the country January 21, 2022.
This week, Australia Post has launched a brand-new Education Hub to bring its many curriculum-aligned resources together and is encouraging teachers to help their students discover the joy of letter writing through its popular Pen Pal Club. The range of educational resources on the online hub covers topics such as literacy and letter writing, First Nations culture, stamps, coins and collectables and STEAM subjects through activity guides, lesson plans and templates. Australia Post Head of Consumer Marketing Corrina Brazel said the educational resources were a popular way for teachers to help their students develop important skills and establish connections with other kids right around the country. “Australia Post has always been about connecting people, and with our free, fun and engaging lesson plans we create content designed specifically to help classrooms discover, learn and connect,” Ms Brazel said. “We’ve offered the Pen Pal Club since 2019 and it’s a great way to kick off the school year to help teachers connect their students with others across Australia, especially this year when it’s never been more important.” Young entrepreneur Jack Berne, who raised $1.8 million dollars through his Fiver for a Farmer initiative, has teamed up with Australia Post to champion letter writing for kids. “I discovered pen pals last year when I found a box of my Mum’s letters and she told me whatthey were,” he said.
I didn’t even know how to address an envelope but thought it would be great to hear from other kids my age from different parts of the country, so I think the Pen Pal Club is something that all schools should get involved in.”
The Pen Pal Club is open year-round to any educator employed by a nationally recognised early learning centre, kindergarten or primary school in Australia and is free to join. Teachers can register at any time and Australia Post will help to connect them with other classrooms based on classroom size, location and age group. The launch of the new Education Hub comes hot off the heels of Australia Post asking kids to help Australia Post find its first-ever mascot and go in the draw to win an overnight experience at Taronga Zoo for two adults and two children, plus a $2,000 flight gift card to help get them there.
Source : https://newsroom.auspost.com.au/article/australia-post-launches-new-education-hubto-help-teachers-connect-kids-across-the-country
2.PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes December 20, 2021
The Hague, the Netherlands, 20 December 2021 - PostNL is pulling out all the stops to deliver all mail and parcels on time in the hectic next few weeks. The busy peak season invariably involves additional measures being taken. And last Saturday, the Netherlands government announced a strict lockdown, requiring non-essential shops to close until at least mid-January. The additional measures PostNL already has taken for peak season will be extended to absorb the extra pressure.
Increased delivery capabilities until mid-January PostNL has been busy upscaling its parcel delivery capabilities significantly since midNovember, in the run-up to Black Friday and the Saint Nicholas Day celebrations. On a regular day, PostNL delivers some 1.1 million parcels, but the peak season can see daily numbers surge to 2 million. The country’s fresh lockdown has prompted PostNL to extend its peak season measures until at least 14 January 2022, with its sorting centres running 24/7 every day of the week and some 1,500 extra parcel deliverers hitting the streets every day. Liesbeth Kaashoek, PostNL’s Director of Parcels & Logistics, comments: "The lockdown in December 2020 taught us how important it is for businesses and consumers to stay in touch, and our deliverers, drivers, sorters and all other colleagues help us to facilitate this and serve as the connecting link. Once again, we’ll get out there to ensure that the rest of the country can stay at home. We’re doing everything within our power to keep doing our jobs in a healthy, safe and efficient way."
Extra mail delivery days
On any typical day, PostNL’s around 19,000 postal delivery people deliver over 8 million letters on average, with numbers rising to around 12 million a day in the run-up to the holidays. PostNL has taken a variety of measures to prepare for this seasonal peak, including extra scheduled delivery days on Mondays 20 and 27 December and more frequent post box collection times.
More people
Health and safety first
Being extremely busy, PostNL may come very close to maximum network capacity on certain days going forward, and it may occasionally take longer for parcels to be delivered than usual. This will really depend on how much more people order online with non-essential shops closed until at least mid-January – PostNL is and will remain in close contact with webstores about the state of play. At this point, it is unclear what the impact of the Omicron variant will be on employee absence through illness, but the health of employees at its sorting centres and other locations will of course come first. In other words, everyone should be able to continue to do their jobs safely One thing PostNL is currently working on is to get in more people to help deliver mail and parcels over the next few weeks. It is investigating the option of offering work to people who are temporarily out of work because of this latest lockdown, as it did in the December 2020. As well as deliverers, this also involves drivers and sorting centre workers.
PostNL points open during lockdown
Shops hosting a PostNL point are allowed to remain open for collecting and dispensing mail and parcels, and for selling ordinary and festive-season stamps. Owners will receive extra compensation from PostNL for keeping these points open, on top of their usual fees.
Source : PostNL continues to run at full capacity to handle extra volumes | PostNL
3.Post Office Horizon scandal – was racism an issue?January 19, 2022
Bosses “must come clean” on ethnic background of prosecuted postmasters and Post Office’s power to prosecute “has had its day” says Andy Furey.
“Horizon is already a by-word for one of the worst miscarriages of justice – but it’s even more shocking to think that there could have been an element of racism on the part of the
Post Office’s investigators,” said CWU assistant secretary Andy, in response to an article recently published by Britain’s best-known Asian publication Eastern Eye. The article – by Eastern Eye journalist Amit Roy – opens with the question: ‘Were Asians unfairly treated in Post Office Horizon scandal?’ Author Nick Wallis, whose book (seen on page 29 of The Voice) is a comprehensive account of the whole Horizon affair, is quoted at length in Roy’s feature, saying: ‘Anecdotally, I think, non-white sub-postmasters got bigger sentences’. Among those cited in the piece are a pregnant mother of Asian background sentenced to 15 months and an Asian man sent down for three years – both convictions which, ultimately, were overturned by the Court of Appeal. Commenting on the second of the two examples, Wallis tells Roy: ‘I don’t know anyone who’s got a sentence like that who is white – nowhere near it’. Eastern Eye’s request for a list of the 738 postmasters who were convicted between 2000 and 2015, in order to investigate the matter further, was rejected by The Post Office for, in their words, ‘data protection reasons’. But Wallis argues that ‘it’s a matter of public record who these people are, because they were convicted in the courts. And their sentences will be a matter of public record as well as the amount of money they were said to have stolen’ and he goes on to suggest that the submission of formal, Freedom of Information, requests could yield more details and make the true picture much clearer. Andy Furey insists that this aspect of the scandal “must be fully investigated” and that “if there is some solid and substantive data clearly indicating a discriminatory approach by either the Post Office or its prosecuting arm, then this must be revealed and those responsible must be held fully accountable.” The Horizon Inquiry, which is currently in process under retired high court judge Sir Wyn Williams, is expected to make a range of recommendations to the Government when it concludes and among the issues revealed by the scandal has been the absence of safeguards or checks preventing potential abuse of power by the Post Office. “Like any other institution or indeed individual, the Post Office has the legal right to bring private prosecutions – but unlike private companies or private individuals, the Post Office is able to draw on the unlimited financial resources of the state to fund its legal actions,” Andy explains.
“Just this past week, Computer Weekly journalist Karl Flinders – who, like Nick Wallis, is a real credit to his profession in terms of the sheer work he has done uncovering this scandal and keeping it in the spotlight – revealed in detail the cost to the UK taxpayer in 2021, which may have exceeded £1 billion. “But on the other hand, the Post Office’s legal decisions are not subject to the public accountability of the Crown Prosecution Service. “It’s becoming increasingly obvious that this lack of oversight was a major factor in the bringing to court of these fundamentally unsound prosecutions of postmasters – and if racism was also a factor, then this lack of accountability could well be a reason why that was allowed to happen too. “We have called for this to be changed and we repeat that call now. “And we also demand that the possibility of racism by the Post Office must be fully investigated too. “The victims of this scandal deserve nothing less”
Source : https://www.cwu.org/news/post-office-horizon-scandal-was-racism-an-issue
4.All-time record: Swiss Post handles more than 200 million parcels in a single year for the first time January 18, 2022
Swiss Post staff processed 202.1 million parcels in 2021, which is a new record in the company’s history. Compared with the previous year, it represents a 9.6 percent increase in parcel volumes. The downward trend in letter mail continued in 2021, with mail carriers delivering 1,811 million addressed letters last year, 3.3 percent fewer letters than in the previous year. Swiss Post created 809 additional full-time jobs in its logistics unit over the course of 2021. It is thanks to the huge commitment of all staff that the company has managed to maintain its services in these challenging pandemic times. Parcel volumes continued to rise in the second year of the pandemic. This sharp rise is due to the boom in online retail, which has been driven in part by Covid restrictions and working from home. In 2021, 202.1 million parcels were sorted by Swiss Post staff at sorting centers and delivered throughout Switzerland and abroad. This represents a 9.6 percent rise in parcel volumes compared with the first year of the pandemic (2020: 184.4 million parcels) and a sharp increase of around 35 percent on 2019. This is the first time in Swiss Post’s history thatit has processed more than 200 million parcels within a single year − an achievement that was only possible thanks to long-term planning and the tireless commitment of Swiss Post staff throughout Switzerland.
Letter volumes continue to fall
Although the number of letters sent has been falling for years, Swiss Post mail carriers continued to process an impressive volume of addressed letters in 2021, with a total of 1,811 million across the year. This represents a 3.3 percent decline in letter mail year-on-year (2020: 1.873 billion). Over the last ten years, letter volumes have decreased by around 30 percent.
809 additional full-time jobs created in 2021
2021 saw more parcels and fewer letters. These developments vindicate Swiss Post’s decision to merge the organization of letter and parcel processing at Swiss Post at the start of 2021. Combining the letter and parcel businesses into one logistics unit has secured jobs and also guarantees flexibility in exceptional times, with up to 200,000 small parcels sorted in Swiss Post’s letter centers every day last year. Letter mail carriers now deliver around a half of all parcels. Swiss Post was also able to create 809 new full-time jobs in the merged logistics unit last year alone, while offering staff in the new unit more varied prospects.
Swiss Post to invest around 1.5 billion francs in its infrastructure by 2030 Swiss Post expects the upward trend in parcel volumes to continue in the future. Accordingly, the company is making further investments in its logistics, with the goal of doubling sorting capacity by 2030. Specifically, Swiss Post will invest around 1.5 billion francs in its sorting and delivery infrastructure by 2030. This will include expanding and modernizing the existing centers, while also building additional regional parcel centers. These investments will enable Swiss Post to secure existing jobs and create an estimated 1,500 new positions by 2030.
Source : https://www.post.ch/en/about-us/media/press-releases/2022/all-time-record-swisspost-handles-more-than-200-million-parcels-in-a-single-year-for-the-first-time
5. J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia January 17, 2022
International express logistics company J&T Express has launched express networks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, bringing its network coverage to 10 countries. The two countries are the first markets in the Middle East to be covered by J&T Express. The company’s Middle East expansion plans began in April 2021 and were followed by eight months of inspection, site selection and trial operations. J&T Express’s nationwide distribution network in the UAE and localized warehousing system in Saudi Arabia now cover all local provinces and regions in the two countries. Versions of the J&T Express mobile application have also been launched simultaneously for the new networks.
Steven Fan, CEO of J&T Express, said, “The expansion to the UAE and Saudi Arabia marks an important step for J&T Express in establishing a global delivery network. In the future, the company will actively explore opportunities in emerging markets as part of its global strategy to connect the world with greater efficiency and bring logistical benefits to all.” Sean Xiao, head of J&T Express Middle East, said, “We hope that with J&T Express’s efficient and comprehensive delivery network, we can effectively improve the shopping experience of consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and contribute to the development of the e-commerce industry in both countries.”
Source : J&T Express expands coverage to the UAE and Saudi Arabia - Parcel and Postal Technology International
