Contractor model is an attack on workers’ conditions

NZ Post’s contractor model is an attack on workers’ conditions

NZ Post’s announcement today of a “pilot” programme which includes dependent contractors as well as employed posties shows that the organisation has learned nothing from the example of Chorus, says the union for postal workers, the EPMU.

The pilot includes a rollout of new vehicles which can speed up delivery rounds and allow posties to deliver parcels as well as mail. But it also involves the use of dependent contractors, who do the same job as posties but without the same protections in employment law.

“This is the Chorus model,” says Joe Gallagher, EPMU organiser for both the postal and telecommunication industries. “Lay off your employees, force them to buy their own vehicles and equipment, and hire them back on worse terms and conditions with no job security.

“It doesn’t deliver efficiencies, it doesn’t protect jobs, it doesn’t improve service for the customer.

“Using new technology to improve the postal service is one thing, but forcing posties to become dependent contractors is another.

“NZ Post is looking at what countries like Norway have done – but in every case, those countries are using an employee model, not a contractor model. There are no dependent contractors doing this delivery work in New Zealand or any country we want to emulate.

“The only reason to change this is so workers can be denied basic protections, and to pave the way for even more redundancies.

“NZ Post provides a vital public service. It should be run for the public, not driven to cut corners and downgrade deliveries in order to deliver bigger and bigger dividends to the government.”

ENDS