24 May 2004	Monday	04 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

RAWALPINDI, May 23: Pakistan Post employees have expressed their reservation over the decision to replace staff at the counters of all general post offices having qualification of matriculation or below with those having FA and BA qualification.

Officials sources told Dawn that the postal authorities had decided that the staff at the counters with matric or below qualification would perform file work and correspondence-related duties. In their place, people with FA and BA qualification would be deputed.

This decision has been taken to improve postal services, the sources said. However, the staff members were of the view that the decision would benefit neither the customers nor the employees.

They said about 90 per cent of the people presently working at the counters were either matriculate or below matric and were performing their duties excellently. They were experienced people and were better than those with FA and BA qualification who had little or no prior experience of working at the counters.

Besides, the post office employees said, about 80 per cent of the GPO staff worked at the counters as there was little correspondence and file work. After removing them from the counters, the authorities would not be able to utilize this staff as their number would be more than that required by the department. Majority of the staff would just sit idle as they would not be required to do much work, they said.

Most of the employees were of the view that correspondence and file work was even harder and required well educated staff with strong communication skills and proficiency in English language compared to the duties at the counters.