Tag: Mail Services

Royal Mail ups pensions attack

Posted by | Mar 25, 2008 | |

Royal Mail this week threw down the gauntlet to postal workers and their union by deciding to implement its proposed closure of the final salary pensions scheme with just seven days notice.

The company said that there would be no further negotiation with the unions, and that the “consultation” with the scheme’s members was over.

Royal Mail is also spreading scare stories that unless there is “pensions reform” the company could be put in liquidation.

This is nonsense. The idea that the state-owned company that delivers most of Britain’s mail could simply go out of business is politically untenable.

The postal workers’ CWU union is conducting a consultative ballot on whether to accept Royal Mail’s pensions proposals. It will now find that bosses have closed the scheme before their result is even announced.

It is vital that the union moves fast to reclaim the initiative on the pensions issue. The consultative ballot must be followed with a swift announcement of a ballot for national strike action in defence of pension rights – with the demand that the government must be forced to step in to deal with the pensions deficit.

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New drugs and alcohol policy at Royal Mail as LAPC warns against ‘skunk’ dangers

Posted by | Mar 25, 2008 | |

The Royal Mail Group has announced the introduction of a new alcohol and drugs policy following consultation with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), advice from Alcohol Concern, and the conclusions of a recent TUC report urging employers to address the issue in a non-judgmental way.

The CWU’s national health and safety officer, David Joyce, said: “We are satisfied that the new policy and guidance now being deployed is in the best interests of our members. Simply put, alcohol and drugs problems are always best treated with sympathy and support where misconduct is not an issue, and disciplinary action is a last resort.” The policy will be subject to a 12-month review.

Meanwhile, the London Accident Prevention Council (LAPC) has expressed concern over the growing number of drivers under the influence of high-strength ‘skunk’ cannabis. The council warns that a growing number of drivers involved in road accidents have illegal drugs in their system, a suspicion confirmed by Jacqueline Richards, an emergency nurse practitioner at Queen’s Hospital, London. At recent LAPC meeting, Richards presented results of a casualty audit showing how drivers under the influence of drugs was a significant factor relating to road traffic collisions.

The LAPC says that drivers under the influence of skunk are impaired by slower reaction times, poor concentration, impaired steering control and coordination, as well as feelings of paranoia, drowsiness, and disorientation. The council is urging the government to run educational campaigns, and offer more police officers Drug Influence Recognition Training (DIRT) to conduct Field Impairment Tests (FITs).

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Post office sale to net Royal Mail GBP 20m

Posted by | Mar 24, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is selling off post office premises worth GBP 20 million as part of its closure programme.

A total of 40 post offices, mainly large high-street branches in medium-sized market towns, are up for sale. They are all part of the Crown Post Office network which is directly managed by Royal Mail.

The news follows last week’s back-bench rebellion in the House of Commons when 20 Labour MPs voted to call a halt to the Government’s plans for closing 2,500 loss-making post office branches.

A spokeswoman for the Post Office said of the 40 properties being sold: “These buildings became vacant because last year we announced a deal with WH Smith which was about relocating some of our Crown office branches into their stores. That has been happening over the past year. The Crown office part of the network has been losing GBP 70 million a year and was not sustainable. As we would do with any surplus buildings, we are looking to sell them.”

The Post Office will continue to run 373 Crown post offices alongside branches run by private sub-postmasters and by retailers. By the end of summer 2008 it is expected that 76 Post Office branches will be sited within WH Smith stores.

It is understood that Royal Mail has already received a lot of interest in the buildings, mainly from local businesses. Although they have only just been put up for sale, it is thought that many will be turned into restaurants, bars and shops.

Anyone wishing to buy the former post office buildings must apply for planning permission to convert the properties. Half of the premises are leasehold and half are freehold.

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Russian Post implements bar code system identifying postal stamps

Posted by | Mar 24, 2008 | |

All affiliated branches implement plastic postal stamps with bar code identification. Containers, polymeric returnable boxes and pockets containing items will have plastic stamps with unique bar code identifying its number. This helps to fill in number of stamp to consignment automatically that simplifies and forces preparation of documentation and prevents human factor mistakes.

Bar code provides extra control over post delivery at all stages of processing and transporting. When scanning bar code, computer automatically fills in the corresponding stamp number that has been made manually before. It helps to improve operators working conditions and reduce time for processing.

Examples of stamps with bar code identification have been successfully tested for scanning and tamper resistance.

In future identification system of plastic stamps will supersede former out-of-date lead and wax seals. At the first stage bar code identification system is to be implemented in post offices having necessary software and scanning devices.

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Decision on opening Indian Postal Bank to be taken soon

Posted by | Mar 24, 2008 | |

With the Indian postal services already offering deposit and savings schemes, the government is likely to soon float an Indian Postal Bank as the matter is awaiting approval of the finance ministry, Shakeel Ahmad, minister of state for communication and information technology, stated here today.

He said that the matter of opening the Indian Postal Bank was under consideration of the government and had been put before the finance ministry. “A final decision would soon be taken,” he said. It would help to extend banking services into many rural areas, he added.

The government would be spending Rs 6,000 crore for computerizing the whole postal network. “Despite a drop in mail services, the world’s largest postal service was still effectively serving 72 percent of the country’s population,” said Ahmad.

Looking to add other services, many post offices had started offering railway booking facilities in the country. Local tie-ups for making available low airline tickets through post offices was also being explored and had already been started in Karnataka state, the minister informed.

He said that as part of e-governance, the government was spending Rs 6,000 crore for setting up 1 lakh community service centres, one for each panchayat in the country by 2009.

Talking about expansions plans of BSNL, he said only recently tenders for additional 4.5 crore new lines had been floated. He added that 2G spectrum had been allotted and 3G spectrums would be soon handed out through an open auction system.

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