Postal workers and their families staged a protest outside the giant Mount Pleasant International Mail Centre in north London yesterday lunchtime, against the planned closure of its subsidised creche.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) member Angela McNaught told News Line: ‘Basically, we’re unhappy about the lack of information.
‘I’ve heard a rumour the closure is down to cost. But we’ve had no evidence to prove it is not cost effective.
‘They haven’t spoken to the nursery to get this kind of evidence.
‘We want it to stay. They should offer an alternative or shift changes to accommodate childcare.
‘There is no other cost effective childcare for staff at six in the morning.’
CWU member Marjorie Campbell said: ‘My son used to come here. He just finished in August last year.
‘I found that while my son has been at the nursery it has helped both myself and my son to be able to have a normal working and home life.
‘It also helped him to progress his early years.
‘If it weren’t for the nursery I wouldn’t have been able to come out to work.’
Mount Pleasant International CWU branch secretary Roger Charles told News Line: ‘Today is about trying to keep the nursery open.
‘It’s a unique facility that caters for the shift patterns of our delivery and mail centre members.
‘It’s open to people throughout the whole of London.
‘Royal Mail are claiming that it costs £130,000 a year to keep the nursery open and that’s a cost they can’t afford.
‘However, they have committed themselves to spending between £30m and £60m on machinery and building work at Mount Pleasant.
‘When you put the two figures together, it’s a fraction of the cost to keep the nursery open.
‘We’re disgusted that they are using the cost argument to dump our children.
‘If the nursery closes, many of our people will have no alternative but to leave their jobs.’