Union says job losses 'unavoidable' as mail volume falls

Job losses at New Zealand Post are unavoidable as mail volume plummets, says the union which represents many of the company's workers.

Wide restructuring of mail services will begin next week, with the potential for redundancies from its 6000-strong postal services division, including administration and support staff.

In a series of emails leaked to the Otago Daily Times yesterday, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union outlined to delegates the content of a recent confidential two-day briefing by NZ Post postal service chief executive Peter Fenton, saying the union was "taking the briefing very seriously".

Annual mail volumes for NZ Post, a state-owned enterprise, have fallen about 30 million from a peak of a billion items.

Mr Fenton was reported to have given a state-of-the-business briefing, saying the decline in mail volume was "unprecedented", with revenue down and costs rising.

"Headcount reduction is seen as unavoidable - less mail means less work - and this will involve redundancies in some areas," the union briefing said.

NZ Post managers and union officials declined to comment on the confidential email, but Mr Fenton told the newspaper the options began with a reduction in hours, loss of jobs through natural attrition, "headcount freezes", voluntary redundancies, and finally redundancies.

Meetings will be held next week at mail centres in Auckland, Waikato, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, which collectively employ about 1800 people.

NZ Post employs more than 10,000 people in its mail centres, retail, data and Kiwibank services, plus a further 7000 contractors.

- NZPA