In workplaces across the advanced capitalist world, the drive toward liberalization, privatization, and corporate globalization is taking a toll on workers’ mental health.

In France, where conflicts over labor rights are at the forefront of public life, trade unions at the postal services (La Poste) are currently locked in intense negotiations with management over working conditions that have been linked to escalating levels of psychological distress among its 250,000 employees.

Like other European postal services, La Poste is undergoing profound restructuring in a bid to transform it from a public service into a profitable enterprise. CEO Philippe Wahl’s latest restructuring plan, launched in 2014, seeks to expand La Poste’s more lucrative commercial activities and massively cut staff costs. In 2015 alone, there were 7,500 job losses. And those who remain are under immense pressure to take on the work of the departed.