JOB losses and service cuts or States subsidies would be the inevitable consequences of competition in the postal market, says the workers’ union.

Communication Workers’ Union Guernsey branch secretary George Jennings was astonished to hear that the Office of Utility Regulation was considering deregulating the local industry.

‘The supposition that this is the right way to go as other European postal industries are doing so is not only inaccurate but also misleading,’ he said.

The Hooper Report, published in December, which looked at the future of Royal Mail, found that when there was competition in the market it was big business and not the consumer that benefited, he said.

And it meant a downturn in service coupled with increased costs for consumers.

‘The bigger European postal industries, except for the UK, are actually stepping back from total deregulation because they have seen the damaging effect on the universal service obligation that deregulation has had in the UK postal industry.’

Mr Jennings said the loss of the local bulk mailing industry to one of the large ‘corporate vultures’ could mean the end of the postal service as islanders know it.

‘If Guernsey Post was making a loss, someone would have to pay for it,’ he said.