Australia Post has put the clamps on the release of any new information concerning credible reports that it will sack as many as 900 staff this week after the powerful Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) directly attacked “tactics” being used by chief executive Ahmed Fahour.

The union has blasted what it claims is the leaking of the latest job cut numbers to the media before Post’s staff were told of the looming mass retrenchment round, a move certain to escalate industrial tensions at the struggling mail monopoly as it attempts to rein-in costs that will soon drive it billions of dollars into the red.

Federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has, for the time being, ruled out any immediate sell-off of the postal monopoly as a way of cutting the losses that will soon have to be borne by taxpayers.

Now the increasingly dire warnings about the scale of Post’s escalating financial woes crisis have drawn accusations that its management is willfully brand-trashing the service, potentially as a way to soften-up the public to accept reductions in the frequency of mail delivery services.

“Part of the CEO’s tactics seem to be around talking down the traditional service at every opportunity,” said Martin O’Nea, Assistant National Secretary of the Communications Workers Union of Australia, which is part of the larger CEPU.

“We accept that mail volumes are falling but we do not accept the [Mr Fahour’s] assertions that mail volumes will decline by 50 per cent in the next 2 years.”

Mr O’Nea also slammed suggestions that Post will lose as much as $15 Billion by 2022 as “ridiculous” saying that studies showed that declines in mail volumes were now slowing in Europe.

The union is now gunning for Post’s senior management to lead on cost reductions by example, with Mr O’Nea saying that although the organisation was already lean “there is some fat at executive level that could be cut.”

Executive remuneration at Post has long been a lightning rod for criticism of its management, especially Mr Fahour’s $4.8 million a year salary that is around five times higher than what other top public servants earn.

“We are unsure at this stage if the story was leaked by Australia Post to help with their softening up campaign of the Australia Public to accept reduced services,” Mr O’Nea said.

The Community and Public Sector Union is also on the attack.

CPSU National President Michael Tull said staff were “deeply shocked by the reports and angry that they heard about it through the media rather than from their employer.”

“These are real people with families and mortgages and they deserve better treatment than this.

“Managing workplace change is never easy but delivering tough news through the media rather than dealing with staff face to face is the worst possible way to go.

“As chief executive, Ahmed Fahour has a responsibility to immediately clarify the situation in relation to the proposed job cuts.

“He also needs to explain to staff how such a significant workplace issue was reported in the media before staff or unions were consulted,” Mr Tull said.

Post is hardly disputing the numbers put up in the reports carried by Fairfax Media.

“We will not be commenting further until the impact of these and other changes we need to make are communicated to our staff, who of course remain our top priority,” it said in a statement.

“Our Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour has publicly stated that the losses in letters business have already overwhelmed the profits in parcels and without reform, the letters services will lose over $1 billion annually in a few years.”

Post’s most recent strategy to try and reinvent its business model has been a foray into digital services, particularly the launch of its MyPost Digital Mailbox that is essentially a tilt at the bill presentation and payments market that have cruelled the paper mail business.

But to gain a foothold that even approaches a viable revenue stream, Post will have to capture a sizeable chunk of market share from BPAY, which is collectively owned by Australia’s retail banks where financial transactions are naturally settled.

One of the key reasons for BPAY’s success over the past decade is that it has managed to provide a low cost service to and between its stakeholders in the payments market that might otherwise be too expensive to run a standalone for profit service within an individual bank.

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