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Correo Argentino reached 2,800 separations between retirements and layoffs: how the adjustment will continue - Infobae
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Correo Argentino alcanzó las 2800 desvinculaciones entre retiros y despidos: cómo seguirá el ajuste
La empresa pública aún tiene vigente un plan para desprenderse de 4000 empleados. La actual gestión cerró varias sucursales en el interior del país y propone un modelo de franquicias “no exclusivas”
www.infobae.com
May 19, 2024
The public company still has a plan in place to get rid of 4,000 employees. The current management closed several branches in the interior of the country and proposes a “non-exclusive” franchise model
By Juan Piscetta
Correo Argentino employees are carrying out protests in different parts of the country over layoffs and branch closures. In the photo, a concentration of a branch in the small town of Barda del Medio, located in the northwest of Río Negro
Correo Argentino , one of the nine public companies subject to privatization if the “Bases Law” is approved in Congress, shed nearly 2,800 employees , of the 16,856 it had hired in December before the inauguration of President Javier Milei , they indicated. to Infobae official sources from the Chief of Staff.
The telepostal firm started on May 4 with a massive voluntary retirement plan, within the framework of the restructuring that the Government intends for public companies. The Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse , specified in his management report in the Senate that those who accepted this offer of voluntary separation reached 1,700 workers .
However, the bleeding began months ago and deepened in recent weeks with the sending of hundreds of dismissal telegrams and contractual terminations. According to sources within the company, 750 people were laid off on April 26 alone . That is why the total reduction in staff has been close to three thousand since December.
Through the mechanism of voluntary retirement and early retirement, the Government hopes to reduce the workforce by a total of 4,000 employees . Compensation is granted according to article 245 of the Employment Contract Law (1 salary per year of service); while early retirement is for agents aged 64 years and 6 months, with a bonus of 8 gross salaries. The offer reaches men from 59/60 to 65 years old and women from 55 to 65 years old.
Given the uncertainty and concern about the future of the company, thousands of employees decided to accept the official proposal . In Facebook groups and on workers' social networks, stories and anecdotes multiply of agents with many years of seniority (some with more than 20 years in the company), who leave their jobs with regret. Among those dismissed there were dramatic cases. Postman Ricardo Albornoz, a resident of Rosario de la Frontera, province of Salta, had 40 years of service and was eligible for retirement. He suffered a cardiac arrest upon receiving the termination telegram. “The lady told me that she started to feel bad. She found him dead in the bathroom,” the head of the Postal and Telegraph Workers Union (Sitracyt), Julio Reifenberg, told Radio Nacional .
The Government reports that the adjustment is part of a commitment to modernize the State and reduce public spending. The objective is for the firm to achieve financial independence from contributions from the National Treasury in this instance. In 2023, $145,000 million were transferred to the company, which, according to the official version, was “mainly allocated to cover operating expenses of a loss-making operation.”
The president of the postal service, Camilo Baldini , is leading the restructuring plan, under the political instructions of the libertarian Cabinet chief. Baldini is a technical team that makes up the 1,867 senior management officials of the State who are still in office and who come from the management of Alberto Fernández, as confirmed by Posse in his presentation in the Upper House.
On Thursday, Baldini sent a letter to all staff announcing the extension of the voluntary retirement plan until Friday, May 24 . “It is important to highlight that the readjustment of the staff is linked to a reconversion of the company's business model,” says one of the fragments of the official letter.
The text anticipates some of the upcoming changes. The most notable is the reconfiguration of the branch model , with a “ new format of non-exclusive franchises .” That is, there will be stands and service points in offices and public agencies of governorates, municipalities and other State agencies, as well as in private businesses, such as kiosks or service stations; similar to the model applied by some well-known electronic payment companies. The intention is to “expand the reach” of the Argentine Post throughout the country, reducing personnel costs and real estate costs.
Flags and banners against the adjustment at the Argentine Post Office in a branch in the town of Cholila, province of Chubut
The paradigm shift in the territorial management model is observed in several inland locations, where there were closures of traditional branches accompanied by layoffs. In recent weeks, trade unions and workers organized protests in front of stores that lowered their shutters in different jurisdictions. The sequence is always the same. Given the announcements or rumors of establishments that will not continue serving the public, this is followed by the reaction of mayors, legislators and provincial governments to maintain the operation of the establishments, in the face of the negative effects that stopping the postal service would mean. .
That concern reached the upper house this week. The senator of Santa Cruz, José María Carambia (Movere), drew attention to this point to Posse during his management report. “The other day we had a teleconference with workers from a small town called Tres Lagos . It is a development commission of very few inhabitants. Griselda works at the Argentine Post Office and they began to persecute them with threats, telling them that if they do not sign the voluntary withdrawal before May 24 - I don't know why that date, if it will be because of the May Pact -, they were going to see those who "was going to happen," illustrated the legislator, who expressed his doubts if the compensation was made to facilitate a "possible privatization ."
The public company maintains that the business plan is focused on “four pillars.” One of them is “non-exclusive franchises”. Others point to the “ efficiency of expenses” , to determine the quantity and quality of expenditures in line with the proposed plan; and the “ optimization of business lines ” of services such as parcels, logistics, traditional and electoral mail, while those that are in deficit will be discontinued. The last leg is the “ incorporation of new technologies ” that contribute to the innovation and quality of the postal service.
“The objectives set present us with great challenges, but we are convinced that it is the right path, and we count on the commitment of those who decide to join us in this new stage to achieve it together. For that reason, I have no doubt that for a while, when we look back and see with some perspective everything we have achieved, we will be prouder than ever to be part of the telepostal family of the 21st century,” President Baldini closed his letter. to the staff.
The letter from the president of Correo Argentino
