16,000 face the axe at Royal Mail
Royal Mail is planning to axe up to 16,000 jobs, it emerged last night.
Threat: The saturday and 'universal' service may be scratched
Bosses have written to staff offering voluntary redundancy or the option to reduce their hours to part-time or relocate to larger sorting offices.
The company employs 160,000 workers but wants to cut 10% of its workforce to reduce the wage bill by £470m. It has already shed 50,000 jobs since 2002.
Last night unions warned that mass redundancies would lead to a reduction in service and a rise in postage costs. It is feared the proposal could threaten Saturday deliveries.
Royal Mail recorded profits of £255m for last year, the first time it had made a profit for each quarter of a year since 1988.
Last night Communication Workers Union spokesman Sian Jones said she was aware of the plans to shed jobs and said any redundancies would affect deliveries. She added: 'We're angry about talk of job losses on the back of Royal Mail recording exceptional profits last year.
'Royal Mail needs to invest in their workforce. We've already had Sunday collections cut and the scrapping of second delivery. This move could lead to a further reduction in services.'
Richard Hooper, a former civil servant who conducted an independent review of the postal service for the Government, has said Royal Mail should be part-privatised. He also told MPs and peers in December last year that half of the group's 69 sorting offices could be shut.
Labour MPs and unions said the shake-up could see deliveries and collections to homes and businesses reduced to five days a week.
The possibility of scrapping deliveries on Saturdays will also heighten fears for the future of the 'universal service' - the Royal Mail's commitment to deliver letters to every address in Britain at the same price.
Last night a Royal Mail spokesman said: 'We want to work with our people so that we take into account their wishes and preferences as Royal Mail continues to modernise and transform its operations to meet the challenges of falling mail volumes and intensifying competition, especially from email and the web as broadband use expands.'
Ford announced plans yesterday to axe up to 850 jobs and slash already agreed pay rises. Its Transit van plant in Southampton will be hardest hit with between 400 and 500 jobs set to be lost by May. Another 350 jobs will be lost across the company through a restructuring of salaried staff.
Ford also announced that it wanted to 're-evaluate' this year's 5.2% pay rise, saying that its business situation had worsened 'significantly' since it was drawn up last October.
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