Mail workers in protest march

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/ ... 4503096.jp

Published Date: 18 September 2008

Postal workers from Northamptonshire will join a march on the Labour Party's annual conference to protest against a programme of changes and closures in the industry.
Hundreds of workers are scheduled to parade through Manchester on Monday, to campaign against the planned closure of mail centres across the UK, cuts to the pension scheme and a raising of the retirement age.

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) branch secretary for Northamptonshire, Mick Fitzmaurice, said: "There are huge changes taking place in the mail industry at the moment, which will no doubt have a damaging impact on jobs and services.

"Royal Mail want to close large numbers of mail centres, which will mean potentially thousands of job losses across the country. This will undoubtedly have an effect on the quality of mail services."

The march is the latest protest by the union, which has continued to voice concerns over the running of Royal Mail in the wake of an arson attack which destroyed the interior of the former Barrack Road mail centre in Northampton five years ago.

The union has already pledged to ballot members in Northampton for industrial action if managers go ahead with a planned new mail centre in Northampton without further consultation with staff.

Mr Fitzmaurice said: "The postal service in Northampton has been operating in substandard conditions at Crow Lane and St James Mill Road since the arson attack on Barrack Road in 2003.

"CWU members have shown great tolerance since the attack, but they are treated with disdain as plans are being made to open a new mail centre at Swan Valley, with no consideration being given to attendance patterns, take home pay, travel arrangements or welfare facilities.

"Our members have been messed around enough locally and it is about time that Royal Mail reached a national agreement that takes care of its employees and, most importantly, our customers."

A firm spokesman said: "Royal Mail's plans to invest £70 million in new buildings, technology and its employees in the Central and South Midlands area have been the subject of consultation with the unions since we announced our proposals in September 2006.

"The plan, which includes the creation of a new mail centre in Northamptonshire, has the potential to create 320 new jobs."

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2035 ... al_changes

By Chine Mbubaegbu
17/ 9/2008

Disgruntled Reading postal workers will join a protest against drastic changes being made to the service at the Labour Party conference on Monday.

Local members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will travel up to the party’s annual conference in Manchester to call for the Royal Mail to remain in the public sector.

The CWU said it rejects calls from regulator Postcomm and the Royal Mail for more privatisation, saying it would, in the end, lead to a poorer service for customers.

In May, it was announced that 400 processing jobs at the Caversham Road sorting office would be moved to a £20 million state-of-the-art mail centre in Swindon by June 2009.

A scaled-down distribution centre will stay in Reading in a location yet to be decided.

Environmental activists and Reading West MP Martin Salter were among those criticising the move as it would mean letters posted in Reading to other addresses in the town would be transported 40 miles down the M4 to the sorting office in Swindon and then back again.

Ian Warrick, CWU’s Reading representative, said: “We have a situation where a number of mail centres including Reading are due to close and the mail concentrated in a smaller number of centres.

“This will have the effect of earlier collections from post boxes and businesses, coupled with later deliveries. The result will be problems for many customers, especially small businesses.”

He added: “Competition in the UK postal industry has not brought any benefits for domestic or small business users.

“We demand that the Government honours its commitment to keep Royal Mail fully integrated and in the public sector.

“It’s a question of how much pressure we can put on the Government. If the service continues to go down this road, it would almost certainly mean a worse service for individual customers and smaller businesses. Competition has only helped big bulk mailers. Everybody else is worse off.”

Mr Warrick said since the final decision had been made to close the Reading sorting office, bosses have not dealt with the “people issues” involved with relocation.

He said: “We still haven’t got a location for a new delivery office in Reading. It’s taken months and as far as we’re aware, nothing’s been finalised.

“Time’s creeping on and we still haven’t got an alternative office with any structure to it.

The main emphasis seems to be getting work moved to Swindon and it’s not good enough.

“They’re not giving the staff any information. They’re persuading members to go to Swindon or Langley before they really have to and around 50 workers have already bought houses in those areas and moved there.

“As a union, if a member feels they’re happy about going down to Swindon then it’s in their best interest but for most staff it’s not feasible to move there. We feel that the people issue isn’t being dealt with.”