New Zealand Post is axing 70 Wellington jobs and closing its Datamail centre in Wellington.

The company said the closure of the Petone-based centre, which prints junk mail for advertisers, in mid-2014 would see 70 jobs cut from the capital and another 30 in Auckland. 

A spokesman for the state-owned company, John Tulloch, said it was throwing out old black and white laser printers, and investing in new colour printing technology.

"The significantly reduced number of printers required with the new technology means only two sites are required.

"The new technology requires significantly less manual input and oversight."

The changes will create 30 new roles in Christchurch. 

Tulloch said the company needed to make the decision to remain competitive and keep its customers. 

A spokesperson for the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said the job cuts are a major blow for struggling communities.

"These redundancies have come as a shock to workers and it will take a while for everyone to digest what it means," said the union.

"While we accept the restructuring is a result of new machinery being installed, we have serious concerns about the state of the job market our members will be facing and we believe this shows the need for a Government strategy to tackle the jobs crisis."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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