POST OFFICE: SUPPLY CHAIN – RELOCATION OF PORTSMOUTH CVIT UNIT

POST OFFICE: SUPPLY CHAIN – RELOCATION OF PORTSMOUTH CVIT UNIT

Branches are advised that the Post Office has announced this morning the relocation of the Portsmouth Supply Chain CViT Unit to Nursling industrial Estate near Southampton, impacting upon 14 employees. It is important to note there will not be any redundancies associated with the relocation and that the work will remain in-house with no outsourcing. In this regard, please see the attached Joint Statement.

Recent discussions have been held with Post Office management and we have been fully consulted on the move, which we believe to be positive for the following reasons:

• There are a number of serious Health & Safety concerns surrounding the Portsmouth site (the former RM Mail Centre which was vacated a number of years ago) due to the landlord falling behind on repairs. This has led to a full time H&S warden overseeing and trying to resolve the problems in the building in the interests of our members.

• Post Office management is led to believe the landlord has a strong desire for the Post Office to move out of the building as he has other development plans in mind. This has led to the lack of interest in fixing the problems within the building and the resultant H&S issues.

The new site is 22 miles west of the current location (a 30 minute drive from the Portsmouth Unit) and is currently used by Loomis – it will therefore be a shared site with Loomis. The Post Office has agreed that any Excess Travel Expenses will be paid to our members up to a ceiling of £20k in line with MtSF.

There is also a Crown Post Office situated within the same site as the Portsmouth CViT Depot. Seemingly this is not affected as part of the move and management have provided the following reassurance within the Joint Statement.

“This move will not affect the DMB operation currently housed at the site.”

Mole Meade, Postal Executive member and Rob Jones, Supply Chain Rep, are leading on this matter and will be engaging with the members throughout the consultation alongside Craig Dapson, Unit Rep. Rob has been to the Portsmouth depot this morning supporting the members and I am grateful for his assistance.

In conclusion, we fully support this positive move to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of our members. We are pleased the Post Office has identified a new, much safer site within a reasonable travelling distance and that all parts of the process of moving will be conducted in line with MtSF.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 421/20 – Post Office – Supply Chain – Relocation of Portsmouth CViT Unit