Postal union chiefs get fat cat pensions

Inflation-busting perks will outrage the 30,000 members who face the dole, write Dominic Prince and Andrew Alderson

LEADERS OF the postal workers' union have awarded themselves remuneration packages worth hundreds of thousands of pounds each as they prepare for a strike ballot over redundancies at the Post Office. Senior executives of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU), which voted last week for a campaign "including industrial action" over the threat of 30,000 Post Office job losses, received pay and pensions deals worth an average of more than pounds 140,000 each last year, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Newly-filed accounts show that Kevin Shaw, a former postman and now an assistant secretary of the CWU, received a remuneration package of pounds 210,000 last year, including pounds 165,000 paid into his pension fund. Mr Shaw, who is believed to be in his late fifties and who works at the union's London headquarters, declined to comment yesterday. The documents show that Mr Shaw and six other CWU leaders received pay and pensions deals collectively worth more than pounds 990,000 last year. Over the past two years, the average wage rise of the CWU's 300,000 members has been just 2.7 per cent, and the latest accounts also reveal that the union ran up a deficit of expenditure over income of more than pounds 1.3 million last year. The disclosures sparked anger from the Institute of Directors, whose members have in recent years faced a union-led campaign against "fat cat" boardroom wages. "It doesn't take a genius to realise that these union leaders are guilty of double standards," said a spokesman for the IoD last night. "But it's up to the trade union members to keep an eye on their bosses." By paying large sums as pension – up to pounds 212,000 per person over the past two years – the CWU and other unions can legally avoid National Insurance contributions of more than 11 per cent that would have to be made from salaries. The disclosure of the inflation-breaking pay and perks deals for union leaders comes only a few weeks after union leaders criticised the remuneration of Sir Christopher Gent, the chief executive of Vodafone. It emerged three weeks ago that, on top of his pounds 2.4 million salary, Sir Christopher was given shares worth pounds l.6 million despite his company's record pre-tax loss of pounds 13.5 billion. John Monks, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, aid of Sir Christopher's deal: "Employees, who are being hit by cuts in their pay through changes to their pension schemes will take a very cynical view of boardroom excess." Yesterday, however, Mr Monks declined to comment on the deal for CWU leaders. "It's a matter for the individual unions," said a spokesman for the TUC. A spokesman for the CWU, which held its annual conference in Blackpool last week, also defended the increases. "These are huge amounts but that is what we have decided to give people: we do not disagree with using the capitalist system." He said that some awards had been to top up the difference between the pension of a postman and a union official. "A lot of our union officials were postmen until late in life and we want to make sure they get the full pension as if they had been union employees all their working lives." The CWU is considering balloting its members over possible strike action in response to Consignia's threat to cut 30,000 jobs following a pounds 1.1 billion annual loss. Allan Leighton, the chief executive of Consignia, declined to comment on the union leaders' pay and pension packages yesterday.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that other union bosses have also been awarded pay increases well above the inflation rate of two per cent. Bill Morris, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, saw his pay and perks package for last year increase by more than eight per cent from pounds 89,942 to pounds 97,629. Margaret Prosser, his deputy, received a similar percentage increase from pounds 75,028 to pounds 81,296. On Friday, however, Jimmy Elsby, the union's assistant general secretary, criticised business "fat cats" who he said should "live on milk as well as cream" and should be put on a "low-fat diet". Additional reporting by James Pope

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