Postal union vows to resist depot closures

The postal workers union CWU have said the closure of three Parcelforce depots announced by Consignia, the company formerly known as the Post Office, at the start of this week is “unacceptable”.

On Wednesday evening a meeting was held in Belfast between the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and postal workers to discuss Consignia’s announcement that three Parcelforce depots are to close with a loss of 140 jobs.

Parcelforce depots in north Belfast, Londonderry and Portadown will close leaving just one operating depot in Belfast’s Harbour Industrial Estate.

The news is part of a huge restructuring programme announced by the postal company, who said they expect to cut around 15,000 jobs as part of a three-year £1.2 billion rescue plan.

Speaking after the Belfast meeting Peter Hamill, spokesperson for the Northern Ireland CWU branch said the union would do everything in their power to resist the closures and compulsory redundancies.

“At the meeting there was a good turnout, but you could tell there was a lot of anger and frustration.

“Yet there was a strong sense of determination to fight this, and this is shared by CWU. Our main aim is to resist the closure of these depots. However we have said since this announcement was made that we are prepared to sit down with Consignia to tackle these problems. The Chairman of Consignia Northern Ireland Sir John Semple has said that he will try and see if these jobs can be redeployed elsewhere, and we will hold him to this.

“The number of closures is totally unacceptable. The number of jobs that are to go is totally unacceptable. This is a problem of under investment and the government has to stand up and take account.”

Representatives from Northern Ireland’s CWU branch are expected to attend a major London organised conference on the jobs cuts announced by Consignia due to take place next week.

(AMcE)