UK Royal Mail profits threatened by strike action
The Royal Mail is projecting it will bounce back to a profit of £100 mln this year, unless it is undermined by the looming threat of industrial action, says chairman Allan Leighton.
A national postal strike could be disastrous for projected profits and Leighton claims that he expects profits to recover by £700 mln from last year’s loss of £600 mln.
He said that the recovery could falter if negotiations this week to avert the first national postal strike in seven years fail to reach agreement.
“We are at a real watershed,” Leighton said. “This is a business which is recovering, which will be profitable this year. We will probably make £100 mln this year compared with a loss of £1.2 bln two years ago. But we are in a position where we could really surge forward or fall back to where we were. We could lose momentum.”
The company is due to hold talks with union officials at the conciliation service Acas, in an attempt to diffuse a row over a proposed 14.5% pay deal.
The Communication Workers Union said that a strike ballot will be announced on Thursday unless Royal Mail makes a “significantly improved offer”.
The dispute escalated on Friday when 160,000 postal workers received a letter from Leighton arguing the case for the pay deal.
