Sorting office's closure spells end of an era for town

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A LANDMARK sorting office will today close its doors after two years of uncertainty for postal workers.

All 600 jobs are going from Crewe's Weston Road depot and staff are being transferred to Warrington.

Some employees are still unhappy with the deal they have been offered by Royal Mail.

Although bosses have said they will run a shuttle bus from Crewe to Warrington, many workers who have opted for voluntary redundancy said the deal wasn't enough. They wanted guarantees the bus would stay in place long-term.


Steve Wright, South Cheshire branch secretary of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU), told The Sentinel the union wants the transfer to Warrington to be as "painless as possible" for workers.

He said: "We want management to stick to the national agreement whereby nobody will be forced to move from Crewe until they are matched with the same job they have now. That process is far from complete. There will be people moving to Warrington today who don't know what their job situation is.

"It is a sad day because it is the end of an era."

Talks began between Royal Mail and the CWU regarding Crewe's Weston Road depot in 2008. In November that year, Royal Mail announced plans to close Crewe's Weston Road base by this summer and move its 600 staff to Warrington.

Many workers refused to move because of the travel costs. Lee Mutch, from Crewe, has worked at the sorting office in Crewe for almost 27 years.

The 51-year-old said: "I'm lucky. I'm staying at Crewe because I've got a job driving, but there are many others who have not been so lucky."

Last summer the service was hit by a series of local strikes, including at depots in Stoke and Burslem.

Processing and distribution staff at Royal Mail's Leek Road office in Stoke held walkouts in July and August in protest against plans to move their work to Wolverhampton, while their delivery colleagues staged an unofficial strike in sympathy.

Work was finally transferred to Wolverhampton from Stoke in September last year.

Royal Mail said the move was part of a £51 million investment in the North West to help secure the future of the business.