UK Royal Mail imposes rejected 2.9% pay deal on postal staff
Royal Mail was on a collision course with its main union last night after it imposed a 2.9 per cent pay rise on staff that had already been rejected by the Communication Workers' Union (CWU).
The move was described as "a blatantly hostile act" by the CWU and could provoke a national strike.
To impose a pay deal without union agreement in organisations where there is collective bargaining is usually seen as a last resort and is a sign of a breakdown in industrial relations. Royal Mail's decision, early in the bargaining process, comes as the postal group has moved to block a ballot by the CWU over controversial plans for employee share ownership.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "Imposing the pay offer is premature and a blatantly hostile act. We are refusing to be pulled on to the punch today, but with Royal Mail's attitude a confrontation seems inevitable."
The clash is likely to be a key issue at the union's annual conference this month and could trigger calls for a strike ballot. Royal Mail managers will be gambling that the union could lose a ballot, as it did three years ago.
A spokesman for Royal Mail said: "Our people are entitled to a pay increase and we are writing to tell them what it is."
The letter to postal staff from Ian Griffiths, the head of the letters division, comes after another letter sent last week by Allan Leighton, the chairman, who is appealing for support for his employee share ownership plan.
The letter has angered the union, along with Royal Mail's refusal to allow the union to conduct a consultative ballot on the issue at work. Royal Mail has said that such a ballot would be a political move.
Mr Leighton's letter, which asks all 180,000 workers if they want free shares, is believed to have attracted about 30,000 responses to a freepost address.
Yesterday Postwatch, the postal consumers' group, criticised Royal Mail for its handling of the share ownership issue. The watchdog hit out at Royal Mail after it was blocked from seeing Mr Leighton's letter. A spokesman said: "Given that it has gone to so many people, it seems very surprising they wouldn't release it."
Postwatch attacked the content of the letter after receiving it from another source, accusing Mr Leighton of "jumping the gun" over the shares. The spokesman said: "It is lacking detail and doesn't say how the internal market for the shares will operate, nor the dividends."
Royal Mail said that the letter was private. It also said that it had no plans to reverse its decision on banning a consultative ballot, despite the fact that such ballots are usually held in the workplace.
ROYAL MAIL PAY OFFER `A HOSTILE ACT'
PA News, p 1 05-10-2006
By PA Industrial Correspondent By Alan Jones
The Royal Mail was accused of trying to provoke a dispute after deciding to impose a 2.9% pay offer that has been rejected by postal workers' leaders.
The Communication Workers Union said the imposition was a “blatantly hostile act” and warned that a confrontation seemed inevitable.
Union leaders had rejected the offer and called for further talks but revealed that the Royal Mail had decided to impose the deal.
Dave Ward, Deputy General Secretary, said yesterday: “An offer of 2.9 % is not enough, but imposing the pay offer is premature and a blatantly hostile act by Royal Mail.
“We are refusing to be pulled onto the punch today, but with Royal Mail's prevailing attitude a confrontation seems inevitable in the near future. The union will be considering its response.”
A row broke out between the Royal Mail and the CWU over claims that workers were being “gagged” over their views on share ownership.
The CWU claimed that managers were ripping down posters explaining a ballot on pay.
The voting is said by the CWU to be a referendum on its agenda for pay and conditions, which is at odds with controversial plans for share ownership.
The union said it had been told it could not hold the ballot on work premises.
Billy Hayes, the union's general secretary, said: “For a public company to deny the opportunity of the workforce to express an opinion and also to seek to undermine the Labour Party manifesto commitment to keep Royal Mail in the public sector is deeply disturbing for standards in public life.
“It has been made clear – both by Government and the CWU's lawyers – that any dispersal of shares to private individuals would require an Act of Parliament.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “There is a clear and agreed industrial relations framework and a union consultative ballot doesn't qualify for facilities support.”
The spokesman added: “The union is carrying out a political lobbying exercise. It is asking about a privatisation. The Royal Mail and the Government have said privatisation will not happen.
“Politically lobbying in the workplace is not covered by the framework Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed to.”
end
