Unite blames “rickety bosses” for Post Office job cuts

The union Unite has said that the Post Office wants to “axe another 150 jobs many of them senior posts, just five weeks after the company announced the appointment of more than 30 highly paid-directors. In a statement issued yesterday (7 February), Unite officer for the Post Officer Brian Scott said: “This appears to be a strategy to reward those at the top at the expense of the workers delivering the service.

“This is down to the lack of commitment from the government and a rickety management that does not have a coherent strategy going forward.

“As the shareholder, the government should be investing in new products and services in the Post Office that allows it to grow, prosper and become sustainable for the benefit of the public.

“However, the bosses have adopted a policy of successive cuts which will only accelerate the demise of this much-valued national institution from the high street.

“The impact of further recent franchising is that the quality of service available to consumers will be adversely hit.

“This means that in smaller locations there are real problems in recruitment, training and retention of staff, particularly when it comes to the longer opening hours that have been heralded as the saviour of the Post Office but which, conversely, have not led to an increase in business overall.”

“These redundancies, which are part of the Post Office ‘slash and burn’ approach, are a result of its failed business plan – these job losses are unacceptable and unnecessary.”

The Post Office told media: “”We are creating a leaner and flatter structure and this means we are making changes at all levels of the business.

“If changes are proposed, our people would always be the first to know.”

With regard to Unite’s comment about the appointment of new directors, Post Office said: “The term director reflects the increased spans of control which have been introduced for a number of people.

“These changes are not about promotions or pay increases.”