Thank you for contacting me about Royal Mail’s shortsighted plans to cut hundreds of postal manager jobs. I appreciate your concerns on this important issue.

Royal Mail is a UK institution of which we have been proud for hundreds of years. 

Royal Mail is an essential service for communities and businesses across Sheffield, as has been made clear by the tireless efforts of its staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet at the same time that the company has been recording record profits and paying out millions to shareholders, workers have been paying the price through job losses.

As you know, Royal Mail is proposing a restructuring that it says will lead to the loss of 700 jobs, and which Unite says will impact up to 900. These cuts come on top of the loss of 2,000 managerial roles in 2020, as well as 12,000 jobs lost up to 2017 through the reduction of opening times and the closure of sorting offices. I am worried that workers have been collateral damage in Royal Mail’s mission to maximise profits.

The Government says operational matters at Royal Mail, including decisions on staffing, are the direct responsibility of Royal Mail’s management and that it is not involved in these decisions. However, I believe it should take steps to ensure that the company’s management has a better grasp of effective industrial relations and supports good jobs.

More widely, I have long believed the decision to privatise Royal Mail in 2014 was a mistake, which has, in addition to losing the taxpayer £1 billion, created an organisation that prioritises profit over services. 

Unfortunately because of parliamentary convention, I am restricted from signing any EDMs due to my position as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. However, I can assure you that I will bear your views in mind moving forward and will continue to monitor this issue.