n the contract-lure and fleet-management industry there has nevee.been a
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deal like it. Consignia, formerly known as the Post Office, is outsourcing all its 6,000 trucks, 35,000 vans and 3,000 cars in a bid to cut costs and improve efficiency. This includes all Parcelforce d Royal Mail vehicles, though drivers will remain Consignia employees. It dwarfs any previous contract in the sector, and is probably too big to be handled by a single company. The decision has been triggered by the increased competition Consignia faces from
the private sector following the deregulation of postal services earlier this ?ear. With the likes of logistics group Hays already poised to make inroads into the postal market (CM 2026 September), Consignia wants to waste little time cutting costs and improving efficiency.
"Vie need to manage our costs much better as we move into an era-of intense cost competition," says a spokeswoman. "If you have an external supplier, you can haitTact-wit14-very stringent penalties attached. It's -much harder to have that kind of relationship with an in-house supplier."
But the Communication Workers Union, which represents 140,000 of Consignia's employees, believes outsourcing is a farther example of the creeping privatisation of postal services. John Keggie, the union's deputy general secretary, says: "If they can privatise vehide services, without a doubt the next step will be to privatise our 19,000 drivers."
State action
Keggie threatens to fight any outsourcing deal Britain, and we don't see the logic in selling off one of the prime assets in the public sector. The facts of the matter are that Post Office finances are in a bad way, and this is a kneejerk reaction to that."
The employees directly affected by any deals will be the 1,700 people employed in Consignia's vehicle services operation. All but 200 of these are maintenance staffworking in 185 depots around the country. The rest are involved in administration and management.
by calling a strike among postal workers and Consignia says employment rights will be
drivers. nQfthiges by law, and outsourcing could open 0