By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
POSTAL workers are worried about hundreds of looming job losses at Dandenong Letter Centre if Australia Post pursues a campaign for a less-frequent mail service.
Dandenong workers were spared the brunt of the 900 axed jobs, largely head office and ‘back-of-house’ roles, which were announced by Australia Post last week.
Communications Workers Union secretary Joan Doyle said the workers would be hit hard by Australia Post’s signalled plans to reduce mail delivery days to two to three days a week.
She said such a large service reduction could lead to the loss of about 400 jobs from the 1000-strong workforce at the mail centre.
“There’s already been some changes in the loss of overtime and loss of opportunities at the Dandenong Letter Centre.
“We’re on the campaign trail now we know what they’re on about.
“There’s still enough letters (4.58 billion annually) that need to be delivered every day. There’s nowhere to store letters of that volume.”
In its 2012-’13 annual report, Australia Post stated that its mail division lost $187 million – a 60 per cent increase in the losses it suffered in 2011-’12.
In the past five years, mail volumes shrank from 5.32 billion to 4.58 billion – a 14 per cent contraction.
Chief executive Ahmed Fahour said letter volumes were expected to decline at an accelerated rate in coming years.
An Australia Post spokeswoman declined to comment on the CWU’s speculation.
“There is no change to our retail network or operations network,” she said.
