POSTMEN TOLD: STRIKE AND YOU'LL BE SACKED

CLINTON MANNING, Business Editor
Boss threat as orders drop
POSTAL workers have been warned that they will be sacked if they go on
strike.
Mick Linsell, managing director of Royal Mail Delivery, has written to
all 140,000 staff urging them to “talk not walk”.
The Royal Mail claims that pounds 80million of business has been lost
because of wildcat strikes.
Mr Linsell tells staff in a letter, which they will receive today,
that they are “in real danger of handing our business to our competitors on a
plate”.
He says 100 customers have already gone elsewhere or cut their
business. He also says 40,000 days were lost in the first three months of this
year due to walkouts.
Mr Linsell forecasts that 4,000 jobs with Royal Mail, now Consignia,
would go if the situation continues. But unions slammed the ultimatum.
John Keggie, of the Communication Workers’ Union, said: “Letters with
thinly veiled threats of job losses are provocative and unhelpful.”
Mr Keggie said Mr Linsell should have waited for the results of an
independent inquiry into poor staff and management relations due this month
before firing off his letter.
A major sticking point is that many staff are working six days.
Mr Keggie said: “Nearly three quarters of our members are still
working six days a week, often starting at 5.30am. It’s an arduous job.”
Mr Linsell says nine out of 10 staff have never taken part in
unofficial action and that the damage is being done by a militant minority.
But he says that action is “putting at risk the job security of us
all”.
He writes: “By taking part in wildcat action you are losing money and
in future you could lose your job as competition is brought in by the
regulator. Don’t just follow the crowd.”
Caption: WALKOUT: Posties strike and, right, union boss Keggie
Copyright: MGN Ltd
MIRROR, 10th July 2001