Less towing for messengers
Parcels over 20 kilograms should be banned
4/9/2023 8:22 am
Shopping online from the sofa is convenient. Federal Minister of Labor Heil also sees this. But if the packages to be delivered become too heavy, it affects the courier’s health. The SPD politician now wants to take action against this. In the future, a forwarding company will be commissioned from a weight of 20 kilograms.
Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil wants to improve the working conditions of parcel couriers: they should no longer carry parcels weighing more than 20 kilograms alone. “Parcels that weigh more than 20 kilograms will have to be delivered by two people in the future,” the SPD politician told the “Bild am Sonntag”. “This is about the health of people who make our everyday lives easier with their work and keep the country running.”
Heil warned that many parcel carriers would get herniated discs. “That’s why I want to enforce that packages that weigh more than 20 kilograms no longer have to be carried by one person alone.” The Verdi service union had also called for such a weight limit. In the future, there should be a labeling requirement for packages weighing more than ten kilograms, said Heil. “So that the messenger can see what he can expect.”
The Minister of Labor wants to enforce this in the amendment to the Postal Act, which the Federal Ministry of Economics is currently working on. “My company will introduce occupational safety measures there,” explained Heil. He expects Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to present the draft before the end of this year. The Postal Act was last fundamentally revised in 1999 – at a time when letters were much more important than they are today and parcels only played a secondary role.
“I don’t want to criticize. But…”
Heil referred to the great growth in the parcel industry. “From 2017 to 2021, the number increased from 2.6 to 4.5 billion packages.” It is also convenient “to buy everything online from the comfort of your sofa and have it delivered to your front door”. His family also orders online, the minister said. “So I benefit from it and don’t want to criticize it at all. But we also have to deal with the question of what happens to the employees who carry a heavy package to the fifth floor.”
Better working conditions should also apply to cleaning staff in federal authorities in the future. “In my ministry, the cleaning staff no longer have to work at night. I want to make this the standard in all federal agencies. It’s good for everyone to see who is cleaning up their own dirt,” said Heil. Currently, cleaning staff often have to work at night. “Often with consequences for health and family and with the result that you don’t see them anymore. And that their work is less appreciated because it supposedly happens as if by magic. But it’s people who scrub at very stressful times. “