The news breaking today that 40 temporary workers will be sent home from the Barbados Post Office as a result of the recent budget cuts is beginning to paint a reality which BU family members have espoused for a few years. It is unfortunate that there has to be uncertainty around how decisions are being made to reduce public service numbers.
During the last general election campaign the Barbados Labour Party (government in waiting) proposed a strategy of privatization as a partial solution to the economic quagmire Barbados now finds itself wallowing. There is an inevitability to the fact that government will eventually have to put agencies/services owned and delivered by the Crown on the auction block, read privatize. BU is on record that government funding day to day expenditure from NIS funds is an unsustainable arrangement.
While it is unfortunate that 40 employees from the post office will join others who have already been sent home – perhaps now is a good time for the government to consider privatizing the Barbados Postal Service or some of its services. It would align to a global trend. The UK Royal Mail will officially be placed on the for sale market “after nearly five centuries in state hands. The public offering is expected to raise more than $3-billion, making this the largest U.K. privatization since the railroads two decades ago”. The article highlights the trend in Europe as well – Andrew Coyne: The question isn’t who should own Canada Post, but who should deliver the mail.
The following is the result of BU family Due Diligence’ research.
A visit to the Barbados Postal Service website there is mention of a staff strength of 600 employees, plus senior management; to process and deliver the mail to a population of approximately 270,000. This translates to one postal employee to every 450 people in the 430 square kilometres that is Barbados, one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
In Canada there are 54,000 members in the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to process and deliver the mail to 35,100,000 people. Therefore, one postal worker for each 650 people over 10,000,000 square kilometres, one of the least densely populated countries in the world.
According to Wikipedia there are 330,000 members in the American Postal Workers Union to process and deliver the mail to 314,000,000 people. Therefore, one postal worker for each 950 people. According to The Guardian the Royal Mail (UK) has 115,000 employees to process and deliver the mail to 63,700,000 people. Therefore, one postal worker for each 550 people.
Admittedly, this is a simplistic analysis if the government wanted to evaluate the privatization option. One would think though with our small landmass, Barbados Postal Service would be able to deliver its postal services with a smaller number of employees/per population than countries with much larger areas to service.
Could some services sold by the Barbados Postal Service be considered for privatization? We are only thinking aloud given the current financial predicament we find ourselves..
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.