'Rickety bosses' blamed for the latest round of Post Office job cuts by Unite
The latest tranche of Post Office job losses is another example of ‘the rickety management’ that is driving a much-valued national institution into the ground, Unite, the country’s largest union, said tonight (Tuesday 7 February).
The union said that the Post Office wanted 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.
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’s position is that it will soon become a company making between £150 to £200 million profit each year. This is an empty commitment as there is no plan in place to make this actually happen.
“The trusted Post Office brand and reputation are at stake, as is public confidence in the Post Office.
“Unite once again calls on government to put the activities of the Post Office under the microscope as opposed to simply accepting what it is being told by this dismal management.
“Government has a responsibility, as guardian of the public’s interest, to make sure that its investment in the Post Office has been spent properly and that the business plans stand up to robust scrutiny.”
Unite has been embroiled in a long-running dispute over pensions with the management, which resulted in three days of strike action at the end of last year.
