Quadrant: Use it or lose it
'Use it or lose it' is the message to Royal Mail staff if they want to keep their on-site subsidised canteen facilities and CWU is saying all you need do is spend £1 to save a job.
Closure threat
Royal Mail announced this spring it planned to shut 140 workplace canteens - putting the jobs of hundreds of Quadrant catering staff at risk and threatening to take away facilities from Royal Mail employees.
The closures would be part of a company-wide cost saving exercise with Royal Mail aiming to halve the annual £25 million subsidy it pays for the canteens.
CWU has objected to the closures and the company has now revised its position to give the catering units a chance to increase their sales and demonstrate that enough demand is there to keep them open. CWU NEC member Katrina Quirke explains: "It's not just about saving the catering jobs - the canteens are subsidised by Royal Mail and we believe that the provision of subsidised catering is part of the terms and conditions of all Royal Mail staff. But if they're closed, we fear they'll be lost forever."
Spend £1 and save a job
CWU has done the maths and worked out that if Royal Mail workers
spent just £1 in their work canteen it would add up to enough
to save hundreds of jobs.
And there's loads of meals which people can enjoy for less
than a quid - cheese on toast, a mug of tea and two slices of
buttered toast, or a warming beans on toast for example. And the
five item breakfast special is a steal at only £1.90 - and all
without having to travel off-site.
Download the leaflet now.
Sales picking up
After only a few weeks the campaign is already showing signs of success. "Takings have doubled in Canterbury mail centre since the campaign was launched" Senior Quadrant rep Shelley Banbury explains "and we're seeing an increase in weekly takings across a range of workplaces which is really encouraging."
Each catering unit has 12 weeks to show a turnaround in reviews
which will then lead to final decisions about whether they will
close, reduce their hours or remain open.
Help the campaign:
- Use your canteen!
- Put leaflets up in your workplace.
- Don't use the vending machines when canteens are open - keep takings going through the tills.
- Take advantage of bargain breakfast deals.
- Get your colleagues to use the canteen
For more information on the campaign contact Katrina Quirke on kquirke@cwu.org or Shelley Banbury on Shelley.banbury@yahoo.com
Follow the campaign on Twitter with
#useitorloseit.
