100 Royal Mail jobs to be axed at sorting office

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MOST of the 100 jobs at Stoke-on-Trent's main sorting office are set to go under plans to send mail to Wolverhampton.

Royal Mail outlined its plans to shut the Leek Road sorting office, in Stoke, by July at a meeting with unions yesterday.

Workers were finding out about the closure at a series of meetings this morning.

It is understood only a small number of 80 distribution and 20 processing staff will transfer to Wolverhampton.

Ahead of today's meetings, Andy Plant, Midlands branch secretary for the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: "Our membership will be devastated by this news, they won't be happy at all.

"Over the past 12 months, since we knew these proposals were coming, they have worked extremely hard and this is the sort of thanks they get."

Under Royal Mail's plans, items posted in North Staffordshire destined for another address in the same area will still be taken to a base in the city after being collected from a post box.

But existing Wolverhampton staff will drive to Stoke-on-Trent to pick up the post, get it sorted and then return it to the city, rather than Stoke workers doing the driving.

Union leaders were today considering their position before presenting alternative plans to Royal Mail next week.

They have already been to their national executive seeking permission to ballot workers over industrial action.

Mr Plant said: "We have told the management that we are committed to reaching a compromise.

"If we don't get that we will be left with no option other than to ballot for industrial action.

"I don't know exactly what our proposals will include yet but they will be based on looking at whether we can do the job more efficiently and keeping the work."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We do not envisage any compulsory redundancies and each individual has the opportunity to talk to us about their future.

"We will do everything possible to match our people's preferences for the future with the options available."