May date for first national postal strike in six years
Postal workers are to bring mail services to a halt on May 8 in the first national postal strike for six years, the Communication Workers Union said yesterday.
The union, which is locked in a dispute with Consignia over pay and delivery standards, said it was calling the action after negotiations had failed. The 24-hour strike could be the first in a series of one-day stoppages.
“The business wants us to sign up to changes that could worsen the postal service for the public,” said John Keggie, the CWU’s deputy general secretary. “We are not prepared to be bludgeoned into accepting its half-developed plans.”
The row over delivery times has become a sticking point that has prevented the union from ratifying a package that includes pay increases and a job security agreement. Consignia wants the union’s approval so it can announce the next stage of redundancies as it seeks to cut Pounds 1.2bn of costs.
The CWU said Consignia, which runs Royal Mail, wanted the union to agree in advance to delivery rounds spanning up to 4 hours and was offering an extra 2.2 per cent pay increase in return.
Mr Keggie said the issue should not be included in the pay settlement because it was impossible to calculate savings in advance of the changes. Also, Royal Mail had reneged on an agreement to test other delivery spans.
“Our patience has run out,” said Mr Keggie. “Our members’ pay award is (overdue by) six months and the business wants us to begin a mediation process that could last for months.”
The union did not want to unpick an agreement with managers designed to protect pay and jobs when Consignia makes tens of thousands of redundancies over the next three years.
However, it said the company’s plans to provide just one mail delivery each day, instead of two, and to increase the size of each postal worker’s round would cost jobs, worsen the service for customers and lengthen the gap between breaks.
The strike call is a blow to Consignia. It said: “When the business is losing money, the regulator is considering the competition framework and customers are considering (using) the competition, any approach other than mediation would be financial suicide.”
Both sides are to continue talks at Acas, the conciliation service.
