'YES' strike vote in Post Office
Members of the Communication Workers Union have voted overwhelmingly to support an executive council recommendation to take strike action over Royal Mail pay. 145,000 ballot papers were sent out to members and the results were as follows. There was a 65 per cent return 63 per cent voted in favour of taking industrial action 37 per cent voted against “I am pleased that the members have shown their feelings so clearly,” said General Secretary Billy Hayes as he announced the ballot result. “We will discuss arrangements to implement industrial action early next week, but I sincerely hope that the result will encourage management to look again at their position, so that we can reach an agreement rather than take action. “We are seeking 5% increases this year as part of a policy of obtaining a basic minimum wage of £300 a week for our members over the next two years. So far we have been offered less than 2%.” Billy says that no action will be implemented for a least a fortnight, and reiterated that the union is ready to meet Royal Mail at any time, with our without the assistance of ACAS, over the intervening days. ——————–
POSTAL WORKERS FACTS
1. the basic wage of a delivery postman or woman is £250.53. In Inner London this rises to £300.91. · the average basic earnings for full-time manual workers in the UK is £277.70 · average basic earnings of a postman or woman is £264.55 · a 5% increase would only bring postal workers up to the national average
2. on average, each postal worker needs to work six hours a week overtime. Around 20,000 postal workers regularly work more than 48 hours a week · the EEC ‘ceiling’ for working hours is 48 hours a week
3. the average price of a UK home is now over £100,000; in London it is £176,000. · a postman on a basic wage could not hope to raise a mortgage in excess of £34,000
4. many postal workers with families need to rely on family income supplements to live. · the government is committed to the elimination of poverty (except, it seems, in an industry it owns!)
5. around 60% of delivery postmen and women work a 6 day week. · the government is promoting ‘family friendly’ policies!
