2000 Australia Post jobs on the line, union says

Unions warn the jobs of one in four posties are at risk under a model which will see letters delivered every second day.

Australia Post on Monday left open the prospect of voluntary ­redundancies but denied the new delivery model would result in forced job cuts.

Unions have warned the jobs of more than 2000 postal workers are under threat after Australia Post managers allegedly told workers a restructuring of delivery services could lead to the jobs of one in four posties being cut.

Australia Post on Monday left open the prospect of voluntary ­redundancies but denied the new delivery model, which will see letters delivered every second day, would result in forced job cuts.

The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union will lobby the ALP and Senate crossbenchers to back a disallowance motion overturning a government regulation that permits Australia Post to change the way it delivers postal services.

CEPU national president Shane Murphy said Australia Post was attempting to use COVID-19 as “cover to make drastic cuts to jobs and postal services across the country”.

Mr Murphy said Australia Post managers had briefed workers on a new structure that would see the scrapping of existing ­arrangements where four traditional postie runs are staffed by four posties.

Under the proposed restructure, two of the posties would take two of the runs each and deliver letters and small untracked parcels on alternate days.

Mr Murphy said the third postie would take a parcel-only run, while “the fourth postie’s job would be axed”. “The government has allowed them to make temporary changes yet Australia Post is looking operationally to make changes that aren’t temporary that, in essence, will remove up to 25 per cent of the posties from the workforce,” he said.

He said between 2000 and 2500 of approximately 9500 jobs were under a cloud.

Responding to the union claims, Australia Post denied postal delivery workers would be forced out of their jobs.

“No postie who is directly impacted by the implementation of the ADM will be forced to accept a redundancy,” it said.

“Australia Post also has no plans to cut posties’ take-home pay. These changes have been ­requested to enable Australia Post to continue to offer important community services and remain sustainable for the future.

“Any changes to our employee working arrangements will be made in accordance with existing obligations, including enterprise agreements, and we are committed to continue to consult closely with employee representatives on proposed changes.

“Importantly, Australians will continue to see Australia Post ­delivering either a parcel or letter to their home or their business, every working day.”

Mr Murphy said the statement confirmed Australia Post was not ruling out job cuts.

“Whether the job cuts are voluntary or not in the first instance, Australia Post’s plans will result in jobs being lost,” he said.

“Australia Post has very carefully worded a statement that says that no postie ‘directly impacted by the implementation of the ADM will be forced to accept ­redundancy’.

“That doesn’t rule out workers indirectly impacted, such as van drivers and processing workers, being hit with forced redundancy. Nor does it mean there won’t be large scale job losses. In fact, it all but confirms there will be.

“Regardless of how it wants to spin this, the reality is that Australia Post is looking to implement large-scale job cuts and large-scale cuts to customer services.”