PLANS TO CLOSE Lossiemouth’s mail sorting office has prompted an emergency meeting between Moray’s political leaders and Royal Mail.
Postal workers in the town are understood to be preparing for a move to Elgin by March next year with the transfer of staff from the Lossiemouth depot.
One staff member told insideMoray this week: “We are expecting to move by March with all operations being transferred to Elgin. Some of us will likely be making several runs a day between Elgin and Lossiemouth to carry out deliveries that are currently handled in the Lossiemouth depot.”
The move will mean thousands of customers in one of Moray’s largest towns will need to travel to Elgin to collect parcels and packages where they have not been at home to accept delivery.
Angus Robertson MP and his Scottish Parliament colleague Richard Lochhead MSP, have both expressed their concerns at the potential closure and have already been in contact with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) with a meeting arranged next week to discuss the issue with local representatives.
Mr Robertson said: “Clearly the proposed closure of the Royal Mail Delivery Office will be a cause for concern in Lossiemouth and the surrounding community and on hearing about the plan my office made contact with the local CWU representative.
“I am due to meet with the union representative next week, along with my colleague Richard Lochhead MSP to get a good understanding of workforce concerns and we will also discuss what Richard and I, as local representatives, can best do to assist.
“Clearly we need to properly understand what the reasons are for this proposal, what the impacts on the community and workforce may be and whether alternative solutions that retain the Delivery Office are possible.”
The move comes as Trade Unions throughout the UK are gathering themselves to fight new proposals by the UK Government to further dilute the rights of union members.
Mr Robertson said: “Earlier this week I was very pleased to meet with representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) in Westminster and SNP MPs voted against Tory proposals to take away workers rights.
“We will work with the unions like the CWU to protect our workforces, who provide critical services such as postal delivery to our local communities.”