Mail centre given stay of execution

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HUNDREDS of jobs have been safeguarded at a Royal Mail call centre, according to union representatives.

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) says staff at the Etruria site have been told the firm is bringing in extra work which means their jobs are safe until at least October next year.

Royal Mail has confirmed it has identified potential new work, which it says could have a "positive impact" on the Media Way base over the next 12 months.

The future of the centre had been under review and union leaders feared it would be closed.

Members of the CWU have been running a campaign to keep the base open since details of the review emerged in November.

They argued that Royal Mail has already taken a "disproportionate" amount of jobs out of Stoke-on-Trent.

Representatives collected hundreds of signatures on a petition against the potential closure, as well as staging a march and rally in Hanley.

The campaign was backed by the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Stoke-on-Trent MPs Rob Flello and Joan Walley.

Shaun Pender, recruitment and organising officer at the CWU's Hanley-based Midlands No 7 branch, said Royal Mail managers gathered workers at the call centre to break the good news.

He said: "The campaign the CWU has been running has resulted in a commitment by Royal Mail to bring in additional work that effectively safeguards the jobs of employees at the centre until at least next October.

"They haven't given us any details of the extra work yet, but we're really pleased that we've been able to help protect the jobs.

"We've been running this campaign for quite a few months now and it's nice to have some good news for our members."

CWU Midlands regional secretary Lee Barron added: "The success of the campaign was due to a united approach from the general public, the business community, local MPs and the CWU."

During the day, the Etruria call centre, which employs about 400 workers, is used by customer care staff to deal with calls and correspondence and work on sales and promotional campaigns.

From 5.30pm, Royal Mail data entry staff workers use the building to decipher addresses which cannot be read by mail machines.

It takes on hundreds of extra workers in the run-up to Christmas to deal with the surge in post.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Since briefing our people at Stoke on the need to address over-capacity in our purpose-built contact centres, we provided regular updates on progress.

"We have informed staff that there is the potential for new work to be undertaken from the contact centre, which could have a positive impact for the site over the next 12 months."

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"We have informed staff that there is the potential for new work to be undertaken from the contact centre, which could have a positive impact for the site over the next 12 months."

and today we have been informed that this "potential" no longer and exists and no new work will be coming into the centre