An unknown number of management and supervisory positions at Australia Post’s Sunshine West centre may be axed following the company’s announcement it will shed 900 jobs.
Communication Workers Union’s Joan Doyle said the announcement was intended to create an atmosphere of financial difficulty.
“Australia Post is a sound business,” she said. “Last year it made $312 million profit. Some management and supervisory jobs at Fairbairn Road will go, but no one knows how many.”
An Australia Post spokesman said: “I can confirm all customer-facing roles, including posties and post office staff, will not be affected by the changes announced on June 10.
“Our network is currently operating above its capacity, which is impacting our ability to meet our service standards and deliver a customer experience that is competitive with other providers.”
The Sunshine West centre, which includes the Melbourne Parcel Facility, Melbourne Transport Facility and Western Delivery Centre, employs about 500 people. The spokesman said no jobs would be affected by an upgrade to the Sunshine West facility, but resource levels between now and 2016 would need “ongoing adjustment to meet volume growth and to balance efficiencies of the new equipment”.
“This will be managed without the need for permanent reduction in staffing,” the spokesman said.
Ms Doyle said: “[Australia Post chief executive officer] Ahmed Fahour has spent large sums of money mainly to greatly expand the parcel business … almost $100 million to double the size of the Melbourne Parcel Facility and to be able to fully automate the parcel sorting so that three times the parcels can be sorted per hour with 25 per cent less work hours.”
She feared a three-day-a-week delivery of letters would lead to more job losses.
“Two-fifths of delivery staff would go, possibly 40 of the 100 posties at the Western Delivery Centre,” Ms Doyle warned.
