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Mail delayed as postal workers threaten action
Absenteeism soars at sorting office where staff say they can’t cope
CHAOS at Camden Town’s sorting office means hundreds of letters and parcels are being delivered days late and staff are threatening industrial action over new working practices.
According to staff at Barnby Street depot behind Euston station, which deals with post for the NW1 area, new rotas, rounds and redundancies have left workers struggling and have hit morale.
Sources say that on Monday alone about 20 staff called in sick, claiming they were unable to put up with management pressure.
This summer, 23 staff took voluntary redundancy.
Staff, speaking to the New Journal anonymously, say the changes in working practices have hit efficiency and are making it increasingly hard to do their job.
“Sometimes it is total chaos,” said one. “Since changes to rounds and the numbers employed at the depot, we are finding we can’t cope with the workload.”
The source added that September and October were often busy times of year as firms geared up for Christmas and this meant workers on rounds were under added pressure.
One postman, who has been working from Camden Town sorting office for 25 years, said efficiency and morale were at their lowest in his time there.
He said: “We lost a large number of people last year. Nearly 50 left, and then more have left this summer. It means we are relying on casuals. It takes time to get to know what you are doing and this is not understood by the managers, who are making unreasonable demands.”
He also criticised management for not knowing the rounds well enough. He added: “They sit in an office and issue decrees, but none of them knows what it takes to get letters delivered. They look at figures on paper and say, oh, this has 300 drops, this will take two hours, but they don’t take into account the size of the walk.
“We are fed up with how we are being treated, and we have to constantly apologise to customers. If we need to take some kind of industrial action to get this sorted out, then I think most staff would reluctantly go down that road.”
A freelance journalist who lives 400 yards from the sorting office has said she has post delivered at 6pm each day. When a parcel went missing she was told by staff who dealt with the complaint “our postman was new and didn’t know how to find where you lived”.
Communication Workers Union representative Tony Davis said he would be watching developments at the sorting office. He added: “They [staff] need to have the tools to do the job properly and at the moment there are fears they are not being provided. We want a period of stability rather than constant change.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said that, with 13 people off sick this week, absentee levels were higher than average.
He added: “In the Camden delivery office we have changed some of the working practices to become more efficient now that we are competing in a commercial world.
“All mail in Camden is being delivered every day and customers can look forward to an improved service in the coming weeks.
“We apologise for any short-term problems anyone has experienced.” |
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