Unions weigh in on Royal Mail redundancies that could have untold affect on jobs at Northampton's mail centre

A national union says the Royal Mail's plan to cut around 2,000 management jobs as a cost-saving measure has been done to "deflect attention from where the real problems lie".

The postal service today (June 25) announced the plan to save more than £250m through redundancies and cost-cutting, which could have untold effect on jobs at Northampton's-own South Midlands Mail Centre.

Now, the central union for the company's management jobs - Unite - have hit out at Royal Mail for failing to recognise the changing industry soon enough.

National lead officer for the Royal Mail Group Mike Eatwell said: "[The announcement today] deflects attention from where the real problems lie. Poor decision-making at the top of Royal Mail in the past has failed to recognise the pace in the decline in the volume of letters, and there has been a too slow investment in technology and facilities to keep abreast of the huge growth in parcels. This scenario has been made worse by the adverse impact of coronavirus on the economy.

"This has led to this situation where Unite’s more than 6,000 members are now facing an uncertain future – it is a devastating blow for them. They are the managerial team who were tasked to carry out the board’s decisions.

“Our aim is to avoid compulsory redundancies and we believe that any job losses that do occur should be voluntary and by natural wastage.”

The cuts are expected to fall on management jobs in departments such as IT, commercial and "back-of-office" work.

Earlier today, the Royal Mail was unable to clarify for the Chronicle & Echo how many jobs could be affected at the South Midlands Mail Centre in Swan Valley, the largest mail depot of its kind in the country.

So far, Royal Mail says the redundancies will not greatly affect the jobs of frontline postmen and women - but that may not be permanent depending on changes to the company's Universal Service Obligation (USO).

The USO is Royal Mail's flagship "one-price-goes-anywhere" service to deliver letters and parcels anywhere in the UK regardless of distance with the right stamps.

However, today's open letter from Mr Williams says the service will soon come under review, which could directly affect frontline jobs if more cuts are made.

Any cuts to fronline posties would also mean the Royal Mail would have to negotiate with the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which the company has had a fractious relationship with for years. Previous sit-downs to talk about pension arrangements and other employment issues have been fraught with difficulty.

National representative of CWU Nick Kavanagh told the Chronicle & Echo: "Our members are doing a fantastic job whether they are in the mail centres or delivering to doors.

"Out of the changes they've put forward our main concern is what will happen to the Universal Service. But for the meantime, Royal Mail has agreed to go through proper negotiations with unions, which hasn't happened in the past couple of years."