Royal Mail to axe 1,700 jobs
Royal Mail will slash 1,700 managerial jobs and close two of its seven mail centres in London, in its latest round of cost-saving measures. The organisation confirmed plans to reduce the number of operational line managers across the UK by up to 1,000 through voluntary means.
“This follows a separate review of managers in head office departments which will result in 1,700 people leaving the Group when this specific initiative concludes,” Royal Mail said.
The company has reduced the number of employees by around 65,000 since 2002.
In a separate measure, the phased closure of mail centres in East London and South London will commence immediately, under the 2010 Business Transformation agreement.
Centres in Croydon, Greenford, Jubilee (Feltham), Romford and Mount Pleasant will remain open.
The operator denied that it would need to make compulsory redundancies as a result of the closures, however it confirmed it foresees the number of employees in London dropping by 751.
A statement said: “After much study and careful thought, Royal Mail believes it will not have to resort to compulsory redundancies to manage the reduction in the number of employees.
“With people demonstrating reasonable flexibility, Royal Mail expects that everyone who wants to remain in the business will be able to do so. As a result of the rationalisation programme, we expect the number of people employed in London will decline by approximately 751.”
Significant reductions in the number of mail centres are also underway and around half of the 64 centres in 2010 could eventually close by 2016 or sooner.
The closures form part of “one of the most important change programmes undertaken in the UK”, with the programme designed to “enable Royal Mail employees to deal with the changes in the postal market”.
“With the number of postal items posted in London expected to more than halve between 2006 and 2014, it is imperative that Royal Mail continues the modernisation programme,” the operator said.
New accommodation is also being sought for the administrative and support staff based at Rathbone Place.
The Greater London rationalisation programme is expected to achieve annual savings of £30m.
However, the company expects to invest £69m in Greater London as part of the UK-wide modernisation programme, with Mount Pleasant receiving a £32m cash injection in order to modernise.
“The latest automation equipment will be installed there; working conditions will be significantly improved,” a statement said.
Mark Higson, managing director of operations and modernisation, said: “Royal Mail’s modernisation programme, which is vital to ensuring a successful future for the letters and parcels business, depends on having the right number of people in our business as well as deploying the right technology and equipment.
“We are conscious of the impact today’s announcement will have on our staff in London. It is hard to reduce job numbers at any time; we are committed to doing everything we can, in line with our agreement with the union, to make these changes on a voluntary basis.
“We will be providing specialist outplacement advice to help our people affected by this announcement to look for new opportunities outside Royal Mail.”
Responding to Royal Mail’s announcement, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) warned that compulsory redundancies look inevitable unless the company returns to talks.
CWU spokesperson said: “We don’t believe that the closure of two major mail centres in London can be managed without compulsory redundancies. We also believe that Royal Mail’s announcement is not in accordance with the existing national agreements we have with the company.
“In 2010 Royal Mail accepted that the overarching objective of business transformation was to avoid compulsory redundancies. Given the number of staff in London, today’s announcement threatens this commitment. We have tabled alternative proposals are insisting that Royal Mail returns to talks to resolve this issue.”
