UK Royal Mail Postal pay row sent to Acas

Postal workers agreed yesterday to involve Acas in a dispute over their pay deal.

Leaders of the Communication Workers Union met to discuss an offer from Royal Mail to go into arbitration at the conciliation service, and make sure there would be no preconditions.

“We have now accepted the offer to go to Acas for unconditional informal talks,” a union spokesman said.

Union leaders initially condemned the latest pay offer as having more “strings” than the philharmonic orchestra.

Royal Mail insists the deal is worth 14.5% on pensionable pay over 18 months and says it is linked to “simple” productivity changes.

However, the CWU says that the only definite money on offer is 3% from October and a further 1.5% next April. The union also claims it was being asked to agree to 30,000 job cuts, which would “destroy” postal services.

A ballot of 160,000 members is still due to be held over the next few weeks to decide whether to take industrial action. A vote for action could lead to the first national postal strike since 1996.