It's unreasonable to make us work at a different mail depot

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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RE: CREWE sorting office workers who are refusing to travel to Warrington (January 29). Staff were told at a recent work time learning session that if they had not selected Warrington as an option, then if all their options ie redundancy, employment at Crewe were unsuccessful then a job at Warrington would be offered but they would have forfeited whatever seniority they had and would go to the bottom of the list for job selection. An obvious attempt to panic staff into revisiting their options and to select Warrington.

Royal Mail also stated that a bus would, this is new, be available for all shifts for up to a maximum of three years. No further information was available on the different start times for each of the shifts and whether staff would have to attend well in advance of their duty start times to use this facility or if only one person required the bus would it still run? As is usual with Royal Mail and the inadequate information it supplies, you have to make assumptions based on whether you trust it or not.

The article about tax office job losses and redundancies would appear to support our stance that a job offer to Warrington is unreasonable on the grounds that:

Warrington is 35 miles away while Stoke is may be 12.

Warrington has no direct public transport links while Stoke is served by rail and bus.

Many of our workers, some are part-time, are carers or mothers with young children who need to work near their homes (part time staff are still unaware of how their duty patterns would be assimilated in duty structures at Warrington).

Many cycle to work and either do not drive or do not have cars.

There are many staff who have worked for Royal Mail for 20-40 years and who wish to remain in employment.

DERRICK HYNAM

Stone