RDC - 11 TO 3 - MOYA GIVING EVIDENCE

[dodger162]

Yes the agreement did say a substantial reduction through mergers and new builds. Is this the current list?

Wishaw
Newcastle
Leeds
Warrington
NDC
Hatfield
PRDC
East London
Chelmsford
Woking (Is this classed an an RDC?)
Bristol

Is Rochester still open?

[POSTMAN]

East London is just an MC,i'm sure it is.

[dodger162]

I think the East London DC moved to Tilbury about 2 years ago.

[NWpostie]

Yes the agreement did say a substantial reduction through mergers and new builds. Is this the current list?

Wishaw
Newcastle
Leeds
Warrington
NDC
Hatfield
PRDC
East London
Chelmsford
Woking (Is this classed an an RDC?)
Bristol

Is Rochester still open?

Near enough, I understand, but not confirmed Warrington will get put into Leeds, because it on the M62 and M1 crossroad, it would not surprise me that they will have a big super warehouse to put Leeds, Warrington in one building, ditto for the rest, be a bit of a long commute for some if this happens.

[Artic roll]

She actually said 'district offices'. There are currently 11 RM regions and she also mentioned 'by the end of next year' which is when all the admin changes should have taken place.

Highly unlikely that RDCs could be cut to only 3 and certainly not within 12 months so I'm sure she was talking about the Regions.

I think - and hope, for my own job security - that your interpretation of Moya's words is correct, dodger162. The wording in the 2010 agreement states

While the ideal vision would be for a new network of purpose-built, geographically located sites, the practical way forward may be a combination of new sites and upgraded existing ones. Royal Mail Logistics and Network will look to fully utilise and realise the potential of its existing sites.
However, both Royal Mail and the CWU recognise that the combined factors of competition, a new mail centre network, automation, improved efficiency and fluctuating traffic levels, will provide potential business opportunities for economies of scale.
This will result in a significant reduction in the number of RDCs over the next three years through mergers or new builds.

The current list of RDC locations, in no particular order, lifted straight off RM intranet shows :

1. EAST LONDON DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC West Thurrock
2. ESSEX DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Chelmsford
3. NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Northampton
4. NORTH EAST DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Gateshead
5. NORTH WEST DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Warrington
6. NORTHERN HOME COUNTIES DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Hatfield
7. NORTHERN IRELAND SORT CENTRE Newtonabbey
8. PRINCESS ROYAL DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Stonebridge Park, London
9. SCOTTISH DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Wishaw
10. SOUTH EAST WALK BUNDLING CENTRE Rochester
11. SOUTH WESTERN DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Bristol
12. WOKING DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC guess where?
13. YORKSHIRE DISTRIBUTION CENTRE & VOC Normanton

(VOC being Vehicle Operating Centre)

So although there are 13 locations, numbers 7 and 10 on the above list are not even described on RM's own communications as Distribution Centres. So maybe she does mean RDCs after all ? If she does, then the CWU would need to explain how they suddenly agree to cut 8 RDCs in a year, not the three years they frickin well signed up to !!!!

[dodger162]

I'm sure she was talking about the current Regions, there are 11. Also she said 'by the end of next year' which is when all of the admin reductions have to be in by.
Also there has been no announcements yet and there has to be a 90 day consultation process after any announcement so all the changes in RDCs cannot be done by the end of 2011.

I think that there will be a lot more than 3 remaining, that would only be NDC and 1 north and 1 south. I'm no expert, I'll leave what might happen to someone else but I think there will be a lot more than 3.

Slightly worrying that 'district offices' were mentioned in the first place. RM Districts disappeared in 1992 when we went to Divisions......

[Artic roll]

I think that there will be a lot more than 3 remaining, that would only be NDC and 1 north and 1 south. I'm no expert, I'll leave what might happen to someone else but I think there will be a lot more than 3.

Logically, there's gotta be more than three RDCs left after the closures have finished, now I come to think harder about it.

Let's assume NDC stays open and that each of the other 2 RDCs would need to be located at a distance (out & back) that is reachable within the span of a HGV drivers duty time. Would 1 northerly-located RDC and 1 southernly-located RDC be able, with NDC, to reach all of the surviving mail centres (given similar limitations of maximum driving duty spans) from just three 'hubs' ?

It isn't possible, is it ???

I hope not, or else lots of us in the RDCs are fecked, job-wise

[Artic roll]

Also there has been no announcements yet and there has to be a 90 day consultation process after any announcement so all the changes in RDCs cannot be done by the end of 2011.

You mean by the end of 2010, surely ?