Shrewsbury Royal Mail sorting office to be scrapped
Shrewsbury's Royal Mail sorting office is to close in 2014 putting 240 jobs at risk, it was announced today.
The closure of the Castle Foregate site – the county's only sorting office – means mail for Shropshire and Mid Wales will be sorted in Chester, Wolverhampton and Cardiff.
The decision has been taken after eight months of consultation with employees and trade unions.
The sorting office, which has been processing mail since 1880, employs 240 workers. The delivery operation, which employs 180 staff, will remain on site.
Royal Mail officials said today it was 'too early' to say how many of the 240 processing and network staff would lose their jobs, but they were hoping to avoid compulsory redundancies.
But Darren Jones, secretary for the Shropshire and Mid Wales branch of the Communications Workers Union, said large-scale job losses looked likely.
He added an emergency meeting would be held on Monday to discuss the union's response.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: "There are about 240 processing and network staff currently working at Shrewsbury Mail Centre. It is too early to say what the impact of the decision will be on these people as this depends on continuing consultation with our unions and our people.
"Royal Mail's aim is to minimise any job reductions."
The organisation said that in Shropshire and Mid Wales, mail volumes of items posted to addresses in the area from other parts of the country had fallen by 24.3 per cent in five years.
Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski said today: "I m very disappointed by the decision and am very worried at this time in the run-up to Christmas that people should be fearful about their future employment.
"I am seeking urgent discussions with Royal Mail, which I will invite members of staff along to as well, to see what guarantees there will be for future employment."
