Royal Mail strikes deal with managers
Royal Mail has reached an agreement with its managerial staff on pensions and pay, although the battle with postal workers, which will disrupt postal services well into next week, is still dragging on.
The deal, which was secured by the Unite union on behalf of its 12,000 members and covers a 27-month period, gives managerial staff a 2.5 pct pay rise, backdated to April.
Under the agreement, Royal Mail’s existing pension scheme will be closed to new members from 31 January 2008 and replaced by a defined contribution scheme for subsequent joiners. The retirement age will increase from 60 to 65 from April 1 2010.
Paul Reuter, Unite’s national officer, said: “Unite has secured a deal with Royal Mail which we believe will protect GBP 1.5bn worth of pension benefits for Royal Mail staff. We now have a pension package that we can take to our members.”
A Royal Mail spokesman said the 2.5 pct basic pay rise recognized “the positive role that managers will play in the modernization of Royal Mail, essential to enable the company to compete in a market open to full competition”.
Managers’ bonuses – which range from 5 pct-9 pct of their annual salaries – will also become pensionable, a detail that helped persuade Unite to accept the terms.
While Royal Mail managed to avert strike action by Unite, postal workers continued to form picket lines in the second day of a 48-hour postal strike.
They are protesting against pension cuts, pay and a modernization program that the Communication Workers Union believes could cut up to 40,000 jobs.
The Royal Mail said in a statement that there were 50 pct more people working today than during previous national strikes, indicating “support for the CWU strike amongst its members [was] weakening”.
A second wave of strikes is scheduled to begin on Monday and last until Wednesday. The CWU has pledged a rolling series of strikes starting October 15 if they fail to reach an agreement with Royal Mail.
