End of mail sorting operation at Cannon Park

[TrueBlueTerrier]

End of mail sorting operation at Royal Mail office on Cannon Park

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -32889568/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SADNESS has greeted the end of the mail sorting operation at the Royal Mail office on Cannon Park in Middlesbrough.

The last sorting of mail was done last Friday at Cannon Park.

The work has now moved to Gateshead.

Plans are also being made for a march and rally in support of the campaign to keep open the Royal Mail delivery office at South Bank.

Peter Hall, secretary of the Cleveland branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: “We had an AGM on Saturday and there was a lot of sad feelings there over the move of the sorting operation.

“Some people have spent most of their working lives at Cannon Park and had to move to work on Tyneside or look for another job in the industry.”

Around 140 jobs were affected by the move. Cannon Park remains a delivery and distribution office.


“It is the end of an era and I think it is a depreciation of the service we offer.

“A lot of people have gone who were loyal to the union and to the Royal Mail,” said Mr Hall.

He said that on Saturday, March 9, a march and rally was being held in support of the campaign to keep open the South Bank delivery office.

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop was expected to address the rally along with local councillor Ian Jeffrey and Labour’s prospective candidate for Redcar, Anna Turley.

The South Bank office, which employs around 40 people, is due to merge with the Middlesbrough delivery office in Cannon Park by next summer. Royal Mail says the proposed merger will cut costs.

Royal Mail announced in 2010 its proposal to switch sorting operations from Middlesbrough to Gateshead. It said then it was planning to do it without compulsory redundancies.

It said that there would be around 800 fewer roles from the total of nearly 18,000 people it employed in Yorkshire and the North-east.