Post Office warns jobs could go
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• Post Office management has put thousands of drivers jobs on the line at Royal Mail and Parcelforce in a bid to force the Government's hand over Post Office privatisation.
Chief executive Bill Cockburn says that around a fifth of the Post Office's business is at risk in the next few years if the Government fails to privatise, and he warns that 30,000 jobs at Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Post Office Counters could be affected.
This could include substantial job losses among the 50,000 drivers who are employed by Royal Mail and the 8,000 who work for Parcelforce. Royal Mail has a total work force of 1 6 0 , 0 0 0 ; Parcelforce has 13,000.
However, the Union of Communication Workers has counter-attacked, warning that 30,000 redundancies would be "small beer" compared with job losses if the organisation moves into the private sector.
Post Office management wants more commercial freedom but Trade Secretary Michael Heseltine has already ruled this out while the Post Office remains in public ownership. And as the Post Office management must know, if the introduction of privatisation legislation is delayed beyond this autumn, the sell-off would be stifled through lack of parliamentary time before the General Election.
The Post Office denies that the jobs warning is scare mongering. It says: "Competitors are ready on the doorstep and letters and parcels is a huge market which is very attractive."