NE MAIL CENTRE CLOSURES

[postmanplod]

Copy of letter from NE DIV Reps
"Dear Union member,
Re:-Royal Mail’s Mail Centre Review.

During the last 24 hours’ you will have received a briefing outlining Royal Mails strategy for the future of the Mail Centre network in the North East Region / Division. It is crucial that you understand that this is Royal Mail’s strategy, it is a proposal that has been shared with the CWU and it is not agreed.

The CWU are now entering a 12- week consultation process where we will be examining all of the information Royal Mail have used to come to their proposal. Gary Hodkinson Divisional Rep will take the lead in coordinating all activities for the CWU on the Mail Centre strategy. He will however, be fully supported by Bob McGuire, Steve Halliwell Divisional Reps, Roger Pheasey (Technical Services) and all the Branches and Area Reps in the North East Division.

We intend to work up alternative proposals to Royal Mail’s strategy of only having three mail centres in the Division within the 12-week period. We will be working closely with your Area and local CWU Reps and CWU HQ to present our findings to Royal Mail in writing offering a different strategy to the one they have just announced. We have called a meeting of all Area Reps next Thursday to discuss our next steps, and how we intend to involve as many people as possible in the consultation period.

We understand how worrying the announcements will be for our members but please understand that this is the initial consultation period, and we will do our utmost to secure an agreement that ensures all options have been considered by the business for a future mail centre strategy.

Yours sincerely

Gary Hodkinson Bob McGuire Steve Halliwell Roger Pheasey
Communication Workers Union North East Divisional Representatives"

[Chopstix]

No one likes the thought of closures

[red1968]

I work at Crewe and we still dont know whats happening to us ,due to close at the end of July.
It's a disgrace how we have been treated by RM .

[End of the road]

How many times have we successfully fought the closure of any mail centre in the past ?




We have never stopped one closure so lets not kid ourselves, most of us knew it was coming for many of us if not all those offices effected at some point in the next few years. As someone has already pointed out the agreement we have will at least put some decent money into peoples pockets instead of the pittance of compulsary redundancy. The mail business has changed, we have a new Government with new tactics and a country to bothered about there own problems to worry or care about posties problems.

We can and must push on get the best deal we can for those leaving and those staying, we must choose carefully the battleground we fight on now and as a union we may need to look to amalagmation into another union for long term future.

[End of the road]

How many times have we successfully fought the closure of any mail centre in the past ?




We have never stopped one closure


so lets not kid ourselves, most of us knew it was coming for many of us if not all those offices effected at some point in the next few years. As someone has already pointed out the agreement we have will at least put some decent money into peoples pockets instead of the pittance of compulsary redundancy. The mail business has changed, we have a new Government with new tactics and a country to bothered about there own problems to worry or care about posties problems.

We can and must push on get the best deal we can for those leaving and those staying, we must choose carefully the battleground we fight on now and who we fight. The road ahead is not going to be easy, not having an agreement in place would have made it a whole lot worse then it is now.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

How many times have we successfully fought the closure of any mail centre in the past ?


We have never stopped one closure

Whilst I agree in principle with the rest of your post in that we should get the best deal we can for those left and those leaving, I still think we can at least mitigate the damage caused by a wholesale closure that takes nothing into account except profit.

Also wasn't Copperas Hill execution stayed once before the latest announcement that it would close.

[Chopstix]

Copperas Hill is for the chop.

[End of the road]

How many times have we successfully fought the closure of any mail centre in the past ?


We have never stopped one closure

Whilst I agree in principle with the rest of your post in that we should get the best deal we can for those left and those leaving, I still think we can at least mitigate the damage caused by a wholesale closure that takes nothing into account except profit.

Also wasn't Copperas Hill execution stayed once before the latest announcement that it would close.

I agree it did have a stay of execution

It is still closing now and I stand by my statement that once RM have it there heads to close, it closes and there would appear very lttile we can do to stop it. That does not mean we should take it lying down, but its difficult when they are in effect pitting one MC against another one offices loss is anothers gain and RM use that to great effect.

[red1968]

Has anyone from a mail centre that has closed ,had any duties ringfenced? ,at the closed mail centre

At Crewe we are told that the collection duties will be ringfenced, but nothing offical as yet.
We are due to close by the end of July.