leahortez86: 200 protesters deliver Royal Mail demand: don't cut jobs

Monday, May 2, 2011

200 protesters deliver Royal Mail demand: don't cut jobs

POSTAL workers marched through the streets as they stepped up their campaign to safeguard jobs at a Royal Mail call centre.

About 200 protesters took part in the Hanley rally organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

They marched from Cannon Place through the city centre on Saturday afternoon as Royal Mail continues to review the future of its 400-employee Etruria call centre.

Hundreds of people have already signed petitions to try to persuade Royal Mail to keep the centre open.

CWU area admin representative Maxine Tuck, who works for Royal Mail, said: "Royal Mail has already taken far too many jobs out of Stoke-on-Trent and to take another 400 is too much. Enough is enough.

"They have taken disproportionate numbers of jobs out of the city.

"There has been an excellent turnout to our march."

Among other groups joining the protest were members of the Nottingham and District CWU, the National Union of Teachers, and the North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism.

Stoke-on-Trent MPs Joan Walley and Rob Flello also joined the march.

CWU workplace organiser Paul Malyan said: "This is a community march because the fight is about the community, it's their jobs.

"We are not happy that Royal Mail is considering taking jobs out of the community. It's the community which suffers.

"It also sends a bad signal out to other employers."

Dave Henney, of Clayton, joined the march to support a friend who works at Royal Mail.

The 46-year-old said: "Stoke-on-Trent is not the greatest place to find work. We really need these jobs.

"The city used to be a valuable industrial hub with the pottery factories.

"But we have lost that industry and it would be a shame to lose something like this too."

Royal Mail has already transferred 700 jobs out of North Staffordshire and South Cheshire after shutting sorting offices in Stoke and Crewe in the past 18 months.

Stoke-on-Trent North MP Ms Walley said: "I'm marching to send a strong message to Royal Mail to keep its hands off the jobs at Festival Park.

"We have lost so many jobs in Stoke-on-Trent, including when Royal Mail moved some of its operations to Wolverhampton.

"This is an area which can't afford any more job losses."

Stoke-on-Trent South MP Mr Flello said: "I have come along to show solidarity."

Royal Mail is reviewing its customer services bases across the country.

It says no final decisions have been made about the future of the centres.

The Media Way centre has two main functions.

During the day, staff answer phone calls and correspondence and work on sales and promotional campaigns.

From 5.30pm, Royal Mail data entry workers decipher addresses which cannot be read by mail machines.