Mail office closure may bring strike

INDUSTRIAL action could follow after the Royal Mail confirmed it will close the Hamilton Street sorting office in Oldham with the loss of up to 150 jobs.

They are part of 900 jobs which are affected under plans to shut mail centres at Stockport, Oldham and Bolton by 2010, transferring the work to Manchester.

Royal Mail said there would be a maximum of 260 job losses in the North-West, as most jobs will transferred to other sites.

It said it hoped there would be no compulsory redundancies, and the posts would go voluntarily or through natural wastage.

There are 450 staff at Hamilton Street, 150 in the sorting office. The Oldham delivery office also in Hamilton Street will not be affected.

The Communications Workers’ Union has already decided to ballot members for industrial action over the closures.

Representative Des Carney said the figure of 260 job losses was a nonsense and said members would be asked in the next week or two if they want to pursue industrial action.

He added: “In Oldham, Bolton, Stockport and Manchester 1,200 people are involved, but there will be only 200 more jobs at the Manchester sorting office.

“We believe there will be somewhere in the region of 1,000 job losses.

“At least they are now talking about voluntary redundancy, but relocations depend on where people will be able to travel to.

“Is someone from Oldham going to want to move to Cumbria?”

Royal Mail territory director Steve Cameron said: “These changes are not expected to take place until next year.

“It is essential that we have the most suitable postal network to enable us to compete effectively in the years ahead.”

The cuts come amid warnings from union leaders that the universal postal service is at risk unless the Government takes action to tackle the financial crisis facing the Royal Mail.