Tag: Domestic

Royal Mail postal workers began the first of two 48-hour strikes on Thursday 4 October. The Communication Workers Union, which represents 130,000 members of staff at the UK’s main postal service, opposes modernization plans, which it claims will result in the loss of over 40,000 jobs, longer shifts and a paltry pay packet for their members, who are already treated like slaves, says CWU Deputy General Secretary Dave Ward. The second 48-hour strike started last Monday, with further stoppages expected by mail centre and airport staff early next week. The CWU says it will embark on a rolling programme of strikes from 15 October until the dispute is resolved. According to The Sunday Telegraph, although the immediate cost of the strikes to Royal Mail will be £50m-£60m, it could eventually cost the company up to £260m.

Since the liberalisation of the postal market in 2006, 17 other companies have started delivering post alongside Royal Mail. They have already taken 40 pct of the lucrative corporate mail market and have won Government contracts from the main postal service. Royal Mail claims the failure to restructure has also cost it a recent £8m deal with Amazon, the online retailer. According to Royal Mail Chairman Allan Leighton on a recent edition of Sky News, its rivals in the postal market are 40 pct more efficient; the Royal Mail has yet to move to fully automated letter sorting, for instance. John Hutton, the minister responsible for the Royal Mail, says that “there’s no future for the business if it’s locked into the perennial cycle of industrial action… It is going to lose market share.” Couriergram, the UK-wide telegraph service, has already taken a third more business since the strike started.

The direct marketing industry is urging the Government to ‘sort out the postal strike now’, following a flood of calls from DMA (UK) members – clients, agencies and suppliers – who fear their businesses will suffer irrevocable damage.

The dispute started in June, but the latest back-to-back strike could see the postal system out of action for up to three weeks.

DMA director of media channel development Robert Keitch says: “We need high level input. The Government, as the single shareholder, must sort this out now. It’s not just the direct mail industry that is suffering. Many companies rely on Royal Mail to handle their invoicing – businesses simply aren’t getting paid.

His concerns are echoed by Williams Lea strategic solutions consultant for mail Justin Rabett, who comments: “Not only is Royal Mail causing short term damage to an already troubled organisation, but its current actions will cause longer term consequences in terms of mail consumption across Great Britain. As it stands, Royal Mail’s position as a pre-eminent supplier of mail distribution in the UK is under serious threat. The latest strike is simply providing more ammunition to its critics who have questioned its ability to deliver on its universal service obligations.

The move follows Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments that the rolling industrial action is ‘unacceptable’.

Talks between Royal Mail, the TUC and the Communications Workers Union are said to be progressing, although a deal to avert the next wave of action has yet to be struck.