Disturbing reports have been received from Retail members detailing the alleged threatening of post office staff by senior managers with the reduction in counter positions and overall staffing where maximum usage of self-service terminals (SST) is not evident for type of low-value customer transactions being processed.
The allegations, which at this stage seem isolated in certain areas, involve management threatening staff that should they not be directing a minimum number of low-revenue customer transactions away from their regular counters to be processed at the SSTs instead that their office would be penalised to the extent of the loss of a counter position.
The matter was raised during today’s national retail joint Management / Union consultative committee meeting.
Mr Paul Ramm, National Manager Retail Network Management, when responding to these allegations committed to speaking with regional managers about the matter and stated clearly that there is no such policy to encourage such behaviour and that it is “not condoned”.
Significant consultation was undertaken prior to the roll-out of SSTs across the country and it was pressed very strenuously by Post during these discussions that SSTs were in no way designed to reduce required staffing in outlets and that there were no intentions to use them in this manner. Instead, they were designed to streamline processing of simply, low-value transactions to allow our members to focus more on engaging with customers with current and future higher value transactions (such as ID&V, passports, sales etc).
Your Union will be treating any further allegations of such inappropriate threats very seriously and will hold Australia Post to account on both their original commitments, and today’s statement from Mr Ramm.
Your Union is encouraging all members, to contact the State Union Office should they be threatened in a similar manner or are in any way concerned about the use of SSTs in their outlet. Members can be confident that any information reporting of such inappropriate behaviour taking place will be treated with the utmost of confidence.
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