UK postal union threatens national strike
The postal workers’ union is threatening the first national postal strike for a decade, saying it is on a “collision course” with Royal Mail over plans for a free share issue.
The Communication Workers Union gave the state-owned company four weeks to resume pay negotiations and withdraw plans to give workers free shares or face a vote for the first national postal strike since 1996. The union is also seeking guarantees on job security and pensions.
The union warned that issuing shares, representing up to 20 per cent of the value of the business, to staff could open the door to the eventual privatisation of the company. CWU represents 160,000 of Royal Mail’s 200,000 workers
The strike threat emerged at the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth, where the CWU reported that more than 90,000 workers had voted in favour of the union’s view that there should be “no issue of shares as a first step to privatisation”.
Workers also rejected the imposition by Royal Mail of a 2.9 per cent pay rise and opposed modernisation plans that the union says could lead to the loss of a further 40,000 jobs.
Royal Mail called for an independent audit of the ballot’s findings. It said it had received positive responses from 83,000 workers to a letter from Alan Leighton, Royal Mail’s chief executive, asking staff if they wanted to register an interest in a free share issue.
Mr Leighton said: “Royal Mail has asked an independent auditor to examine the process of both consultations.”
Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said the ballot had been conducted properly and democratically.
He said that Mr Leighton had “a bloody cheek” calling for an investigation when the company had ordered its managers to prevent union representatives holding a ballot in the workplace.
Mr Hayes said that Mr Leighton believed “in one person one vote so long as he is the person with the vote . . . we will not take lessons from him on how to conduct a ballot.”
Royal Mail said it banned the ballot from the workplace because it judged that questions referring to non-existent privatisation plans were political.
The union had asked members to support propositions such as “higher basic pay, pensions to be safeguarded, better annual leave, shorter working hours and dignity and respect to everyone at work”, Royal Mail said.
Only one answer had been allowed for all eight propositions.
The company said: “Piles of ballot papers were left in delivery offices and mail centres for anyone to pick up. No form of identity was required to take part and no names or pay numbers had to be given.”
