Union urges government not to sell Royal Mail
The Communication Workers Union has urged the new UK coalition government not to throw away Royal Mail’s hard-won success by “flogging this cherished public institution”. Responding to postal affairs minister Ed Davey’s admission that Royal Mail could be floated on the stock market, the union said that this is a departure from Lib Dem policy and warns that privatisation is not in the interests of customers and is deeply unpopular with the public.
CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: “This is clearly a major retreat from Liberal Democrat policy. Vince Cable and Ed Davey have given in to George Osbourne’s Thatcherite economics.
“The proposals to split the post office network from Royal Mail as outlined by Mr Davey will threaten the viability of the network, will wreck the service and will wreck rural and deprived communities which rely on the Post Office. We all know that privatisation leads to higher prices as private companies maximise their own profit ahead of any sense of public service.
“We’re saying to the government: don’t privatise this successful public company.”
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “We welcome Ed Davey’s comments about restricting executive pay, but that can only happen if Royal Mail remains public. Royal Mail is being successfully transformed in the public sector and this will continue to gather pace as new machinery and the Business Transformation plan is fully rolled out.
“In addition, industrial relations are transforming from confrontation to co-operation and we are looking forward to working with the newly appointed chief executive Moya Greene – someone with significant experience in the industry. Yes there are major challenges with dropping mail volumes, but far from being a drain on the public purse, Royal Mail is a profitable asset making over £400m last year, a jump of 26%.
“We’re very concerned by the Minister’s comments about the pension scheme in which he said ‘the pensions of past employees, current employees and their families would be at risk’. This is a grave cause for concern for our members and we will be seeking a resolution to the pension issues from both the company and the government.”
