They penalize people if they don’t sell coloring books, says a trade unionist from Czech Post

At the Czech Post, the tug-of-war over salaries is escalating. As Seznam Zprávy reported, approximately one hundred former and current employees are suing the state-owned company. According to them, they criticize the unequal remuneration of employees at branches in the same type of positions. The post office refuses.

Dissatisfied people are based on the case of driver Petr Hradil. He objected that he received less money for the same work in the Olomouc branch than his Prague colleagues in the same position. Justice, including the Constitutional Court, has previously accepted his arguments.

Therefore, workers in other positions are also gradually turning to the courts. “We have been asking for a wage inventory for a long time,” says Evžen Dvorský, chairman of the trade union movement of Czech Post employees, in an interview for Seznam Zprávy.

The state-owned company is one of the largest employers in the country, employing over 20,000 people. The current average salary there exceeds 31 thousand crowns.

Are dozens of lawsuits a problem for the post office from the union’s point of view?

Its a big problem. We have been drawing the management’s attention to it for ten years, even then, according to our estimates, the amount was five to six billion kroner, which the company should match in order to match the wages in the same positions. The Labor Code has been in force since 2006 and has remained exactly the same. It is clearly written there that equal pay is due for equal work. The Supreme Court ruled as it ruled (alludes to the case of Petr Hradil – note ed.) and the Constitutional Court confirmed the arguments. What does the company want to invent here? He should pay people the same wages in similar positions and pay them what they are entitled to.

According to the editorial office, lawsuits against state enterprises are increasing. Is this a big topic among employees?

The post office has not changed anything at all in terms of remuneration. Even in individual type positions there are big differences between people. Some of the new workers received higher wages, some who had been flying there for years had never touched such money in their lives. It also depends on the head of the branch. We called it facetious. There’s a variable component that’s about 15 to 20 percent of salary, and it’s always been strangely magical. They also harmed employees in this way.

And what kind of atmosphere is there in the ranks of employees because of this?

A lot of people don’t know about it. Part of them is afraid because they are afraid of losing their jobs. I do not know why. Personally, I have nothing to worry about. There is work everywhere, and those people are highly skilled, whether at the counters or in delivery. But the problem mainly concerns those who have already left. Wages between Prague, where people received a stabilization supplement of 3,500 crowns, and the countryside were never equalized, even though the management tried to do so.

Scissors unfold. And it will never be settled until a payroll inventory is done on the business. We have been asking for a long-term solution to the problem once and for all. Neither HR nor the Director General showed interest, nor did the Ministry of the Interior as the founder.

View of Czech Post

What do you say to the argument of the Czech Post, but also of other employers, that it is necessary to take into account the cost of living in individual regions?

It’s an odd argument, complete demagoguery. Check the prices of food, electricity and other services. Maybe there are lower rents in state apartments, but otherwise the market in the Czech Republic is completely open. The cost of living has gone up in incredible ways everywhere. After all, it is true: If you want to do business, do business, but pay people. And if you have regular employees, value them. And the post office doesn’t appreciate them.

The firings of recent years are against common sense. After all, I try to keep a qualified employee at all costs. At the post office, only buzzing, threatening products, meaningless fulfillment. In this form, the company has no future.

Do you see unequal wages as a societal problem in the Czech Republic, and can lawsuits regarding wages at the post office undermine the entire labor market?

Of course. This is nothing more than devaluing the work of those people. When the legislators approved the labor code and it is clearly described in it, then we should stick to it. This is exemplary discrimination of those people. Two hundred deputies could have already amended the code a long time ago. Not only the Czech Post operates this way in the country, but many other companies, and the law requires them to treat the same positions in exactly the same way. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, especially when the claims were recognized by the Constitutional Court. It doesn’t matter if it’s a driver, a delivery person or a worker at the counter or someone in a hypermarket at the checkout. And it also applies to temporary workers.

It’s a genie in a bottle, a ticking time bomb. Nobody cares about it. It won’t solve itself. Politicians act like nothing happened. We have already discussed it with many ministers from Messrs. Sobotka and Chovance, and everyone kicked it like a hot potato. Only the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court will figure it out.

From September 2024, the Post Office is increasing tariff wages by ten percent. How do you think the situation will develop?

The important thing is for people to stop being afraid. They have nothing to lose. After all, I will not go to work to give 100% performance and be undervalued compared to others in the same position. My employer is robbing me when I don’t have somewhere in Horní Dolní the same as my colleague in Prague. But many times even people at the same branch who do the same work at the counter do not have the same salary. We have always asked for a basic salary – the same for the designated positions and then of course a bonus based on what kind of work the employee does. But the manager would have to have time for the employees, which is not possible here through the administration itself.

At the same time, you mentioned the variable salary component at the beginning, so it doesn’t work for you?

It is linked to an assessment that is meaningless and unsatisfactory in the long term. A “variable” is always a non-entitlement component of salary. This system should have been abolished a long time ago. As I say, a transparent system of bonuses should be set up, where it will be clearly stated how the given person will reach the respective bonuses. How many times does a person get paid for selling lottery tickets and leftover material. After all, the post office is from the fulfillment of basic duties. People are penalized for not selling coloring books or books.

So do you think remuneration at the Post Office should change?

Of course. She slept for at least ten years. To unify type positions so that it actually matches what people do. And to completely simplify the whole system.