Chamber backs workers call to save mail jobs

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BUSINESS leaders are backing a campaign to save hundreds of jobs at a Royal Mail call centre after the firm began a review of its services.

Members of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) launched a petition against Royal Mail plans to review its facility at Etruria after news of the proposals emerged last month.

More than 300 people have already signed the petition and union representatives are now due to meet with the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce in January to discuss their next move.

Closure of the centre would lead to the loss of 400 jobs; more than 20 per cent of the firm's workforce in Stoke-on-Trent, Leek and Stafford.

Royal Mail says it is reviewing its customer services bases across the country, but says no decision has been made about the Etruria centre's future.

However, the CWU has since said workers have been verbally informed it will close in the next 12 to 18 months.

Union members have been out in Hanley and Newcastle with their petition against the review and they are also planning to target Tunstall, Burslem, Stoke, Fenton and Longton in the coming months.

Representatives are due to visit the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce on Festival Park on January 11 to discuss the campaign.

Shaun Pender, recruitment and organising officer at the CWU's Hanley-based Midlands No 7 branch, said: "Hundreds of people have signed the petition and the union has also set up a Facebook page. We've had lots of support and we're really pleased the Chamber of Commerce has decided to back us."