Union says 40 Canterbury P.O.s to close

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 1

Union says 40 Canterbury P.O.s to close

By

NIGEL MALTHUS

More than 40 Canterbury Post Offices will close in New Zealand Post’s review of uneconomic offices, according to the Post Office Union.

The union’s Canterbury regional organiser, Mr Trevor Young, identified offices at St Albans, Avonhead, Casebrook, Rowley and Princess Margaret Hospital as among those earmarked for closing. He also named Heathcote and Redcliffs, two offices which had been rumoured to close last year. The Post Office had denied the rumours in the case of Heathcote, while Redcliffs remained open after a petition from 700 residents was presented to the then M.P. for Lyttelton, Mrs Hercus. Mr Young predicted rural district closings at Mount Somers, Springfield, Sheffield, Hororata and Klrwee — "to name but a few.” Closings would take effect in December, January or early February, he said. New Zealand Post’s South Island regional manager, Mr Syd Bradley, confirmed that closings were "certainly under consideration,” but said that he could not comment on specific closings. There were about 380 offices throughout the South Island, and that was being examined in light of Post Bank and Telecom’s decisions to withdraw from some districts, and the likely effect of

that on New Zealand Post’s profitability. Agencies, where postal services are offered as a sideline by shopkeepers were also under review and some would “almost certainly” be affected, said Mr Bradley. Closings would be decided on a mix of criteria; commercial, social, and the distance post offices were from other post offices. The main factor was whether Post Bank and Telecom planned to withdraw, he said. "Simply, we have got to react to commercial reality.” Mr Young said that the union’s predictions of the offices to close were based on information gathered over the last six months and he believed these to be accurate. “We may be the odd office out” He blamed the Government, which he accused of dishonesty. In October, the then Post-master-General, Mr Hunt told Parliament that there could be closings, but not a significant number. Mr Young, however, said that he had been present at a meeting where Mr Hunt gave his “solemn word” that there would be no closings in Christchurch.

“That was a ploy to get through the election,’* he said. Mr Young said that he understood New Zealand Post’s problems, with the planned withdrawal of Post Bank. Banking business accounted for 60 to 70 per cent of the workload at most branches. It was therefore up to the Government to maintain the Post Office subsidy, he said. “As owner of the State-owned Enterprise, they (the Government) have the right to say ‘no, that Post Office is not closing.’ We expect them to assert that right,” said Mr Young. Mr Young said that anything up to 160 offices were threatened in the South Island, and between 500 and 600 nationally. “That’s an awful lot of jobs.” He believed staff would be offered only redundancy, rather than redeployment, as there were no other jobs available in the organisation. Post Bank had already begun asking staff to consider voluntary severance, he said. Mr Bradley said that the effects on New Zealand Post staff were difficult to predict “We would like to think that most of the surplus staffing would be picked up by voluntary severance.”