One quarter of jobs at Australia Post face the axe under a new delivery model, the posties’ union says.

But Australia Post has denied the claim, calling it speculation.

The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union wants parliament to block the changes included in Australia Post’s proposed “alternating delivery model” when it meets this fortnight.

Australia Post moved to extend delivery times and redeploy workers to other departments in April. The changes were made to cope with unprecedented demand, and a surge in parcel deliveries, during the coronavirus pandemic.

The union said workers faced pay cuts of up to 30 per cent – and Australians would have to wait longer for their mail – under the proposal.

“The regulatory changes allow Australia Post to cut back daily postie services and attack essential workers’ job security and take-home pay.” it said in a statement.

Australia Post said the concerns were speculative.

“No postie that is directly impacted by the implementation of the [alternating delivery model] will be forced to accept a redundancy,” it said in a statement on Monday.

“Australia Post also has no plans to cut posties’ take-home pay.”

It said any changes to employee working arrangements or enterprise agreements would be made in consultation with workers.

Under the new model announced in April, 2000 motorbike posties were to trade bikes for vans or move into warehouses to cope with the increased parcel load.

Priority letter services were suspended, letter deliveries were moved to every second day and five days were allowed for intrastate posting.

The changes were meant to be in place until June 30, 2021, and lifted after a review.

“These changes have been requested to enable Australia Post to continue to offer important community services and remain sustainable for the future,” it said.

The union said Australia Post said the changes were short-term requirements for the coronavirus pandemic, but it had refused to guarantee the changes would not be permanent.