A ‘Problem of Fairness’ in the Making: The Transformation of Public Services from the Perspective of Postal Workers

Abstract

During the last two decades public administration and public services have undergone profound changes with far-reaching impacts on employment relations and working conditions. The paper presents the perceptions and lived experiences of workers affected by liberalization and privatization of public services. In doing so it focuses on workers' ideas of fairness and dignity at work using the concepts of distribution, recognition and the public ethos of the common good and linking them to fundamental principles of justice. It is argued that the perception of inequalities as fair, while it is shaped by custom, is also being socially constructed during far-reaching changes. The analysis is based on a series of qualitative interviews conducted in Austria, Germany and Switzerland with postal-service workers, a sector well suited for the analysis because of the far-reaching changes in terms of market regulation, ownership of organizations, labour regulation, employment and working conditions.

Consciência política e predisposição à participação dos trabalhadores de uma empresa de saneamento em ações coletivas contra a privatização no Sudeste do Brasil

“…The impacts of privatization on labor relations and conditions can be summarized as: a) low salaries; b) deterioration of contractual working conditions; c) devaluation of civil servant status; d) loss of autonomy and identification with the work and organization; e) denial of participation in organizational decisions; f) strong pressure on workers; g) increased competition at work; and h) unions focused on salary demands (Flecker, Schultheis & Vogel, 2016). The loss of identification with the profession, professional experience, and relationships with colleagues who shared thoughts, ideas, and values related to work generates feelings of frustration (Terra, 2008).…”

Unions in the postal services of the future

“…Research on the postal sector previously focused on the effects of liberalization and privatization (Bouffartigue et al, 2018a;Flecker et al, 2016;Haidinger, 2012;Hermann, 2011;Holst & Singe, 2013;Jakubowski et al, 2018;UNI, 2009). Especially in parcel delivery, privatization resulted in a fragmentation of the labor market, namely into three spheres in which the institutions of labor regulation play different roles: the spheres of globally operating logistics groups, the spheres of small-scale subcontractors and the spheres of self-propelled micro-entrepreneurs (Holst & Singe, 2013).…”

“…The developments described above affect workers directly as they are alienated from their work owing to its transformation (Flecker et al, 2016) or precarious working conditions like in local courier services (Concetta Ambra & Pulignano, 2018;Pupo & Noack, 2014). Thus, postal workers are "particularly sensitive to the deterioration of their working conditions and the 'meaning' of their work, i.e.…”

When Preventing Absenteeism Fuels Long‐Sickness Leave: The Case of a Leading Operator for Local Transport Services

“…5. See Koumenta (2011) for an analysis of the public service ethos in British privatized organizations or Flecker et al (2016) on postal services in Europe. 6.…”