The Czech Post will lay off 2,000 employees by the summer, with half of the layoffs affecting branch workers and the other half involving logistics workers, primarily delivery drivers. The affected employees will learn about the releases in a few weeks. The post office is already sending notices of mass layoffs to employment offices, including numbers for all regions.
The number of branches will be reduced from 3,200 to 2,900 by July 1, and this will not affect towns with only one post office. The Ministry of the Interior estimates that the postal transformation will cost over 8 billion CZK. The company will use state funds, bank loans, and money from selling unnecessary property to finance the project.
The company’s transformation is expected to result in two businesses in 2025: one that will provide essential services defined by the state and another that will be a joint-stock company providing logistics and parcel services. This commercial section should generate a profit. The transformation aims to ensure the post office is no longer operating at a loss. The postal service has been in the red recently, with a loss of 1.5 billion CZK last year.
The layoffs have led to concerns among workers and their unions. Some postal unions estimate that up to 4,000 workers will lose their jobs this year. Therefore, the union movement of Czech Post employees, one of the smaller trade union central bodies at the post office, has launched a strike alert.
The unions are planning to meet with the company’s management next week. The Czech government still needs to approve the modified Czech Telecommunication Office regulation, which will allow the closure of branches in towns with a population of over 2,500.