Uncertain future for Tonbridge postal staff.

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Miriam Taylor

POSTAL workers in Tonbridge face an uncertain future after last week's news that Royal Mail is to cut costs, sparking fears of job losses.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has said the cuts will affect all offices nationwide, which is bad news for the 400-plus workers at the mail centre in Vale Rise.

CWU spokesman Sian Jones said: "These are 10 per cent cuts in every office across the country. That will include obviously Tonbridge."

She explained the savings could be made not just through staff cuts, but also through working more efficiently or amalgamating offices.

But the union rep said the postal operator had included people costs in its planned reductions.

"People costs are jobs," she added. "This means you might be losing actual jobs but also more worryingly you might see a switch from full-time to part-time work, reduced by cutting hours.

"This is very concerning for the people who work for Royal Mail. Most people can't afford to work part time – they need to pay their bills."

But Royal Mail spokesman James Taylor said no redundancies had been announced and there were "absolutely no plans" to cut jobs.

He said: "There is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front-line people.

"In the current economic climate – and with a rapidly declining market – we are always looking at ways to reduce costs while at the same time safeguard services to our customers."

The news comes after Royal Mail announced last month an increase in profits to £255m for the nine months leading up to the end of December.

But it is feared thousands of jobs may be slashed ahead of business secretary Lord Mandelson's plans to part-privatise the organisation.

The company is one of the country's largest employers, with 190,000 members of staff but in the last seven years it has lost 50,000 workers.

[Stormproof]

I've heard Kent is to lose up to 500 jobs, no doubt many of them will be at Canterbury MC which apparently is earmarked for closure.

[POSTMAN]

But Royal Mail spokesman James Taylor said no redundancies had been announced and there were "absolutely no plans" to cut jobs.

He said: "There is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front-line people.

I am absolutely flummuxed that they keep saying this!!!!

[DGP1]

But Royal Mail spokesman James Taylor said no redundancies had been announced and there were "absolutely no plans" to cut jobs.

He said: "There is a programme to cut overheads and central costs which is not about our front-line people.

I am absolutely flummuxed that they keep saying this!!!!

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Joseph Goebbels quotes