CWU claim RM plan to sort York post in Leeds abandonded

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Communications Workers Union claim Royal Mail plan to sort York post in Leeds ‘abandoned’

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UNION leaders claim Royal Mail intended sending millions of York letters to Leeds for sorting this summer – but has now abandoned the plans.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) said the company intended diverting most collections from York post boxes to Leeds until September, because of a reduction in the amount of mail in summer.

The union leafleted members to tell them that no collection mail should be sent to Leeds without agreement.

“Please tell your representative if you are asked to prepare, transport, label up or in any way assist in diverting these collections to Leeds,” said the leaflet, a copy of which was passed to The Press.

It said Royal Mail had argued that post collected up until 7pm should go to Leeds because that centre had extra capacity, but the union claimed York had extra capacity as well.

The move was set to be discussed at a union meeting at the weekend.

But Dave Dowling, the CWU’s York branch secretary, said the proposals had been dropped only days before.

He said he believed the change of mind came partly because of union opposition, but also because the proposals did not make sense. “It would have meant people in York just standing around doing nothing,” he claimed.

One postal worker contacted The Press to say staff believed that if the mail went to Leeds for the summer, it would not return to York, and the sorting office in Leeman Road would be closed within a year.

The claims echoed the row last autumn over plans to sort York second-class mail in Leeds, which many workers saw as the forerunner to the transfer of first-class and other mail to Leeds, and the eventual closure of the Leeman Road offices, with the loss of more than 350 jobs.

The second-class mail transfer, which eventually went through, came close to sparking industrial action in the run-up to Christmas. Mr Dowling said the union wanted to be involved in discussions about modernising the postal sorting operation in York, which it did not oppose.

He said the sorting office did not necessarily have to remain in Leeman Road, but simply within the York area to deal with mail from the York postcode area.

A Royal Mail spokesman said it was not transferring collection mail from York Mail Centre to Leeds Mail Centre.

“No first-class mail processing has been transferred from York to Leeds and we have no plans to do so at the moment,” he said.