Federal Labor says proposed changes to Australia Post's operations will hit the Hunter hard, with the party's analysis predicting a blow-out of delivery times from three business days to as many as seven days - including weekends.
In a statement released on Thursday, the postal service called the temporary measures "critical" and said there would be no forced redundancies or pay cuts brought on by its COVID-19 response.
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Paterson MP Meryl Swanson repeated the posties union's claim from earlier this week that the measures would put one in four delivery jobs in jeopardy.
She said Labor's modelling of the proposal forecast delivery times in the Hunter could go from three to seven days.
"At a time of economic uncertainty across regional Australia, now is not the time to be slashing jobs or services in regional areas," Ms Swanson said.
"The boom in parcel delivery is an opportunity to preserve and create jobs - not to cut them."
When asked about possible delivery time blow-outs, Australia Post referred the Newcastle Herald to a statement online from chief executive Christine Holgate.
Ms Holgate said "a range of false claims" had been made about the proposed measures.
"The temporary changes to letter delivery will only happen in metro areas and allow us to redeploy some of our posties to where their help is needed most - in parcel processing and delivery. We will still require posties to deliver letters," she said.
"Union claims as many as one in four postie jobs will be impacted are false."
