ROYAL Mail intends to stop processing second class post in York – sparking fears for the long-term future of the city’s sorting office and more than 350 jobs.
The company today confirmed it was proposing to transfer the processing of second class mail posted within the Y0 postcode area from the York Mail Centre in Leeman Road to Leeds Mail Centre.
It said the move, intended to improve operational efficiency, would not result in the loss of any of the York centre’s 360 jobs. “There would be no job losses due to the way we manage staffing at the mail centre,” said a spokesman.
And he said there were “no plans at the moment” to transfer any further mail processing from York to Leeds.
But postal workers union leader Paul Clays said he and members feared the loss of second class mail sorting would be followed later by first class and other mail, and the closure of the entire sorting office.
And he warned that meetings of CWU members would be held to discuss the change, with the possibility of industrial action by both sorting office and delivery workers against the change.
A York sorting office employee, who did not wish to be identified, told The Press staff feared the worst. “We are worried this is the thin end of the wedge – that it could be death by a thousand cuts,” he said.
“Once they’ve established the precedent of moving second class mail from York to Leeds, they could decide to move first class and other mail there later on.”
Mr Clays claimed the change would lead to the environmentally-unnacceptable prospect of mail posted in York being transported to Leeds to be sorted and then brought back to York to be delivered.
“You could post a letter in Coney Street and it would have to make a 50-mile round journey via Leeds before being delivered in Parliament Street,” he claimed.
But the Royal Mail spokesman denied there would be any environmental impact, saying that second class mail would be transported on vehicles that would already be travelling to Leeds and back.
He said only a proportion of mail posted in York was destined to be delivered in the city as well.
Mr Clays claimed customers would experience a decline in the quality of service when posting letters Second Class, because Leeds had a poorer record of service than York. He said staff were already “incandescent” at delivering mail in York much later than they used to do.
But Royal Mail strongly denied there would be any difference in the level of service provided between Leeds and York.
Asked if workers would still be able to work by travelling to Leeds each day if jobs moved there, Mr Clays said: “They might not be able to travel over there and it would mean extra costs. Many people pedal to work in York and I can’t see them being able to pedal to Leeds each day.”
Sorting office could be relocated
The news comes less than a fortnight after The Press revealed the sorting office could be relocated and the site redeveloped under the ambitious York Central scheme.
The newspaper reported the potential for including the Leeman Road site in the billion-pound redevelopment of the area around the railway station had been raised, with one option being to locate a new public transport interchange on the site.
But Royal Mail stressed then that while it was aware of the plan, it was at a very early stage, and the company would not say if it was definitely considering moving out. Nor would it comment on whether, if it did eventually leave, it would relocate to another site in the York area further afield.
Mr Clays said the question of whether Royal Mail intended selling Leeman Road had been raised by the union at a meeting with the company and the answer was: “Not officially.”