Royal Mail job cuts

Submitted by Matthew on 23 March, 2011 - 2:03

Two London mail centres could close as part of a Royal Mail restructuring plan, which puts over 700 workers and 1,000 managerial jobs on the chopping block. A further 1,700 head-office posts could go in a future review.

Centres at Nine Elms and Bromley-by-Bow face complete closure, and Royal Mail bosses have warned of further cuts to come; the company says that up to half of the UK's 64 mail centres could face closure by 2016.

Royal Mail has cut around 65,000 since 2002 but claims that voluntary redundancy and natural wastage mean that the current cuts will not involve any direct sackings. However, a spokesperson for the Communication Workers' Union said “We don't believe that the closure of two major mail centres in London can be managed without compulsory redundancies. We also believe that Royal Mail's announcement is not in accordance with the existing national agreements we have with the company.”

In a further blow to postal workers, a new valuation of the employee share scheme has revealed that workers' holdings in the scheme are now entirely worthless.

With workers at Crown Post Office sites voting recently to take strike action, rank-and-file activists working for Royal Mail (particularly at the effected sites), should organise urgently to push the union into action against closures and job cuts.

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