Service-oriented - Die Schweizerische Post

made on implementation of its strategic
objectives, a human resources report in
accordance with the Public Officials Act, a
report on the Ordinance on Managerial
Salaries and all reports submitted to the
Board of irectors for information and
decisions as well as an annual report submitted
to the regulatory authority. Alongside
the UVEK, the Federal Council has
also tasked the Federal epartment of
Finance (EF ) with exercising its rights as
owner. In addition, regular report meetings
are held between representatives of
the UVEK, the Federal epartment of
Finance and the top Swiss Post management
– five such meetings took place in
the year under review. Key topics included
Swiss Post’s strategic targets and its
compliance with them, the further development
of PostFinance, the upcoming
comprehensive reform of the Postal Act
and issues relating to deregulation.
Group structure
Swiss Post is a group under a parent company,
with the autonomous business
areas Mail, Logistics Services, Financial
Services and Passenger Transport, and the
business units International, Post Office
Network and Philately as well as the Mail-
Source and GHP business units, which are
grouped in the New Business segment.
The parent company also includes Staff
Services. Each subsidiary is answerable to
the relevant business area or business
unit. The organizational units are responsible
for managing these companies, taking
Group requirements into account. An
overview of the subsidiaries and associated
companies included in the Swiss Post
scope of consolidation can be found on
page 141 of the Financial Report.
Outsourcings
On 1 July 2006, the PostBus unit was
outsourced from the parent company to
the PostBus Switzerland AG subsidiary
established in 2005; this limited company
is wholly owned by Swiss Post. This gives
it the entrepreneurial scope it needs and
the possibility of entering into alliances.
Major organizational restructuring was
also implemented in the Logistics Services
unit, while a negative decision by the
Federal Office for Justice meant that the
PostParcels unit was not outsourced from
the parent company into PostLogistics
AG.
CEC: Collective employment contract
for outsourced business units and
affiliation agreements
In future, the collective employment contract
for outsourced business units and
affiliation agreements will constitute the
basis for employment conditions in the
event of outsourcings. The collective employment
contract for outsourced business
units governs relations between the
social partners and the basic employment
conditions. The affiliation agreement covers
the specific employment conditions
that apply to each individual company.
Capital
In its opening balance sheet on 1 January
1998, the Confederation provided Swiss
Post with interest-free endowment capital
of 1.3 billion francs. It is possible to raise
capital by accumulating reserves from
retained profits. The revised Postal Organization
Act which came into force at
the beginning of 2004 now allows the
Confederation to recapitalize Swiss Post’s
employee pension liabilities through an
Annual Report | Corporate Governance
75
injection of capital. Accumulated corporate
profits should suffice to provide the
funds needed to restructure the Swiss
Post pension fund and to create the
equity required for operating purposes.
Group equity as at 31 ecember 2006
amounts to 1605 million francs (following
allocation of 2006 Group profit to retained
earnings). The statement of changes
in equity as at 31 ecember 2006 can
be found in the Financial Report (Page 96).
For the year under review, Swiss Post will
again ask the owner to forgo being paid
a profit in order to achieve an industrystandard
equity level and to channel
a further 350 million francs into the
employer’s reserve of the Swiss Post pension
fund.
Board of Directors
On the cut-off date, the Swiss Post Board
of irectors was made up of ten members
elected by the Federal Council for a
term of four years. The Federal Council
also appoints the Chairman of the Board
of irectors, and takes into account gender
and appropriate representation of the
regions when selecting the Board. It is
also particularly important to ensure that
all members of the Board are independent.
Members do not have any business
relationships with Swiss Post or its subsidiaries,
and have never been involved in
an executive capacity for Swiss Post or
any affiliated companies in the past three
years. Under statutory regulations, the
Board must include an appropriate
number of employee representatives, and
at the moment these are Ms Lucrezia
Meier-Schatz and Mr Jean-Marc Eggenberger.