rhompson tells of Roadline jobs agony
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ATIONAL Freight Consorurn chairman Sir Peter hompson has pledged to dye the problem of losses in ; parcel division this year, it told journalists last week agonies" suffered along ith his fellow directors over e job losses involved.
In his annual report (see ige 20), detailing a total loss
parcels up from £8.2 milon to 1:8.8 million in 184/85, Sir Peter says: "We ust solve the parcels probm in 1985; the will and the -Lancia] ability are there to ) it."
The report helps to show by NFC is building its parts rescue strategy Around e National Carriers Parcel ivision (NCPD), whose ational Union of Railwayen workforce is co-operatg with the plans, rather an Roadlinc UK, much of hich is liable to disappear. While Roadline's loss last year rose from £4.6 million to £5.7 million (little short of what NFC feared it would lose without any of the cuts made last year). NCPD cut its loss from £3.6 million to al million and developed Parcelspeed 86, a next-day service.
NFC has set aside 07 million towards restructuring parcels, but chief executive Jack Mather insisted last week that it is not yet certain how many jobs will go when Roadline is closed and merged into NCPD to form a new company to be known temporarily as National CarriersRoadline.
The aim. is to retain as much profitable traffic as it can from the current £87 million parcels business, and to develop a marketing strategy to try to make up ground lost to more aggressive competi
tors in the parcels market.
Towards this end, a brewery industry executive is being recruited to the new management team headed by NC-Roadline managing director Graham Roberts.
Sir Peter insisted that management has gone through "agonies" in arriving at this "final solution".
And Mather, in his section of the report, says: "We have had many more redundancies than we hoped and once the parcels business reshaping is completed we are determined to curb this drain on our manpower and profits." Last week he outlined plans to set up an internal job clearance agency to match redundant labour to vacancies in other subsidiaries, to help staff move home to take up vacancies in other areas, and possibly to reduce the retirement age.