Today Royal Mail revealed its plans to save around £50m a year through a management restructure, potentially costing the company 1,300 roles across its Royal Mail and Parcelforce businesses.
The vast majority of these roles are to go within head office management positions.
The announcement comes just one month after members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted in favour of an agreement covering job security and stability, ending a lengthy legal dispute.
At the time, chief executive Moya Greene hailed the vote “the first critical step to provide long term stability and certainty for Royal Mail [and] our employees”.
But, despite the result of this ballot, it will today begin a consultation with Unite and the CWU on proposals to make 1,600 roles redundant with only 300 new positions created, as part of what it is calling its 'continued efficiency programme'.
A spokeswoman for Royal Mail was unable to give The Hub further information about which roles are to be made redundant, as the details of the programme will be decided as part of its consultation with unions. Unsurprisingly though, the news was not met with support.
Unite, which represents 7,000 managers at the company, said the decision would likely result in industrial action, just a few months after the threat of a strike during the Christmas peak. The CWU also said it would fight to protect many jobs as possible.
The operator claims that the restructure will save the recently-privatised company £25m in the 2014-15 financial year, and £50m in years to come.
Could this be a clue as to what to expect from its full year results, which are due out at the end of May?