Postal unions threaten industrial action over RM job cuts

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Postal unions threaten industrial action over Royal Mail job cut plans

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Postal unions are threatening a summer of industrial action to fight plans by Royal Mail to cut thousands of jobs as the recession deepens.


By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Last Updated: 1:39PM GMT 06 Feb 2009


Senior leaders from the Communication and Workers Union will hold a two-day summit with senior Royal Mail management next month to discuss the cuts.

Leaked management documents show that Royal Mail are looking to make major jobs cuts to the workforce.

The plans, seen by The Daily Telegraph, are dubbed Project Tiger and cover back office jobs. They show that the organisation wants to cut £20million by the end of March and warn that there will "more cost pressure from the regulator in future years".

They explain: "We have a requirement to cut a minimum of 10 per cent from our cost base, including people costs."

The CWU said that these cuts would be mirrored across all parts of the organisation, hitting postmen and sorting office staff across the country.

If this happened, as many as 16,000 jobs could go in sorting offices and mail depots in towns and cities across the UK.

A CWU spokesman said that the union would fight every single cut. She said: "We will be using the industrial relations process to fight these on every level."

Dave Ward, the CWU's deputy general secretary, added: "Royal Mail is pushing for an arbitrary 10 per cent cost saving for offices across the country.

"This is not agreed by the CWU and could have a huge impact on both job losses and a reduction of full-time jobs to part-time jobs.

"We are not opposed to modernisation but these are random savings which have not been properly worked out.

"They have nothing to do with modernisation, they are panic measures that will hit the quality of service.

"This decision comes after profits in Royal Mail have soared, which brings into further question the necessity of these cost-cutting quotas."

The Royal Mail Group employs 180,000 staff. Over the past seven years, 50,000 staff have lost their jobs.

The company said it had written to staff to ask if they had any "preference" towards moving jobs internally, taking voluntary redundancy or going part-time.

Royal Mail declined to say how many jobs would go and insisted that any cuts would not affect its customers.

Sources said that more job losses were likely because of falling mail volumes caused by the increased use of email to send information.

One said: "As you modernise and start to use newer technology there will be fewer jobs.

A spokesman said: "We have absolutely no plans to cut 16,000 jobs but there is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front line people.

"We want to work with our people so that we take into account their wishes and preferences as Royal Mail continues to modernise and transform its operations to meet the challenges of falling mail volumes and intensifying competition, especially from email and the web as broadband use expands."

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, is pressing ahead with controversial plans to sell a minority stake in the business to a private firm, despite fierce resistance from unions and some backbench Labour MPs.

[Phantom]

Falling mail volumes? must be the reason i cut off today then.

I have less mail and more time to deliver it but still i cut off, hmmm

[POSTMAN]

A spokesman said: "We have absolutely no plans to cut 16,000 jobs but there is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front line people.

So how does the 60hrs they want out of my office,and the 10% they want out of my area not amount to job cuts

[DGP1]

A spokesman said: "We have absolutely no plans to cut 16,000 jobs but there is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front line people.

So how does the 60hrs they want out of my office,and the 10% they want out of my area not amount to job cuts

They want 140 hours out of my office and that's before the next round of cuts

[the one]

A spokesman said: "We have absolutely no plans to cut 16,000 jobs but there is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front line people.

So how does the 60hrs they want out of my office,and the 10% they want out of my area not amount to job cuts

They want 140 hours out of my office and that's before the next round of cuts

120 HOURS OUT OF OUR OFFICE,

[POSTMAN]

A spokesman said: "We have absolutely no plans to cut 16,000 jobs but there is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front line people.

So how does the 60hrs they want out of my office,and the 10% they want out of my area not amount to job cuts

They want 140 hours out of my office and that's before the next round of cuts

120 HOURS OUT OF OUR OFFICE,

So that's 7-8 jobs already

[uprising95]

when will all this come into action then ?

[borders]

maybe Dave can come down to our office , the proposals for the 10% cuts are already up on our noticeboard

[not me]

well our office is a gift for them,they want 500 hours (4 postcodes)
but we have had a city wide resign
12 are leaving for other DO/MC's and 2 are coming in
so we are 10 FT down already