UK mail unions pledge to fight Leighton’s ‘privatisation’

Postal unions are vowing to block any moves to privatise or sell off part of the Royal Mail. The deputy general-secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Dave Ward, made clear the union would fight any plan to privatise or part-privatise the state-owned group.

Ward said that as Labour’s manifesto stated there were no privatisation plans, the union would raise the question of Tony Blair’s trustworthiness if the Government altered its position. ‘We will oppose this completely. If they press ahead with this it will become one of the big political issues of this term.’

His comments came after a week in which plans for an employee buy-out, with shares held in trust for workers, had been widely reported.

Government intentions are unclear. Senior ministers, including Alan Johnson, former head of the postal union, now Trade and Industry Secretary, are said to have been supportive of the scheme of Royal Mail board chairman Allan Leighton, despite the manifesto pledge that the government wanted the group returned to good health in public ownership.

Sources at the Department of Trade and Industry said no level of privatisation was on the table, nor had any formal proposals been put to the government.

Leighton wants to be able to borrow pounds 2bn to invest in modernisation to take on rival postal groups such as Deutsche Post and TNT, which will be allowed to compete fully with Royal Mail from January.

Last week, Royal Mail, which is a public limited company, unveiled profits of pounds 537m, allowing payments of pounds 1,074 for each worker. Leighton believes the prospect of annual bonuses and a stake in the business for employees will mean he can appeal over the heads of the unions and win acceptance.

But Ward indicated there would be very strong opposition among the 160,000 Royal Mail members. Strikes ‘would be certain’ due to a resolution passed by CWU members at their annual conference to oppose privatisation through ‘any means necessary’. Ward said: ‘Make no mistake, this is an issue of trust.’