Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mail strikes caused by modernisation changes (UK)

Posted by | May 3, 2008 | |

Royal Mail, in it’s application to the Postal Services Commission for relief from the impact of Industrial Action, said that a number of factors had caused a drop in quality of service in 2007 but the underlying cause was industrial action brought on by essential changes to make the business more efficient. It said the changes formed part of the loan it had secured from government to modernise the business.

The application timetabled the impact of events caused by national, rolling, and wildcat strikes but said that it was not possible to “identify every small event that contributed to the wider degradation in quality of service during the year as a result of work to rule and go-slow activity”.

It said that settling the industrial dispute on unsatisfactory terms had not been an option and in finding a solution to the dispute, the transformation of Royal Mail and the funding secured by government had to be protected as much as the long term interests of Royal Mail and it’s customers.

Royal Mail said that as well as industrial action over pay and conditions, it had also experienced industrial action over delivery office closures which again, were part of an overall plan to make the business more efficient. In addition, the new EC legislation relating to 56mph driving speed restrictions for 7.5 tonne vehicles, which became law in January 2008, required the restructuring of Royal Mail’s network operations and duty patterns in delivery, resulting in changes to the start time for over 100,000 delivery postmen and women. It said the CWU had used the changes as both a bargaining and propaganda tool during the dispute.

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Royal Mail to Explain Why Quality of Service Dropped

Posted by | May 2, 2008 | |

Royal Mail has been requested by Postcomm to demonstrate that industrial action last year, which saw mail pile up in delivery and sorting offices, was wholly the result of transformation plans, and that the industrial action only had caused a drop in quality of service. Royal Mail will present its case at an open meeting on May 14th.

Major stakeholders in the postal market have been invited to this event and given the opportunity to ask any questions they have about Royal Mail’s application; this will help ensure Postcomm has appropriately considered the views of all interested parties before it makes its decision.

In June 2007, Postcomm agreed Royal Mail’s request to suspend – until the end of the financial year – the payment of compensation to bulk mail customers, and to earn revenue that it would not otherwise be permitted to do (due to the ‘C factor’), where industrial action has taken place and quality of service figures have dropped.

Postcomm agreed to the request because it wished to ensure that Royal Mail was not discouraged from taking the steps needed to modernise its business – such modernisation would be to the benefit of all mail users.

Postcomm decided that prior to making any decision it would convene an open meeting at which Royal Mail would present the main points in its application. For it to be satisfied, Postcomm expects

Royal Mail has recently asked Postcomm to suspend the Bulk Mail Compensation Scheme and adjust the value of the C factor in the event of industrial action related to transformation activities in 2008/09.

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Royal Mail goes to court over zonal pricing decision (UK)

Posted by | May 1, 2008 | |

Postcomm received summons that Royal Mail intends to seek a judicial review of the regulator’s decision to reject the company’s recent ‘retail zonal pricing’ application.

Postcomm say the initial application was received in February 2007, studied with great care, and consulted on widely, at Royal Mail’s request. Postcomm rejected the application because it put forward a pricing structure that appeared to have a number of discriminatory features and would have been introduced in a way that would lead to unreasonable changes for its customers. It is now for the court to determine the merits of the case.

Postcomm has not ruled out any future moves towards retail zonal pricing for products outside the universal service should Royal Mail propose an alternative approach that avoids the problems presented by the recent application. Postcomm is generally supportive of pricing that is more reflective of costs.

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Royal Mail Group’s health and wellbeing ‘blueprint’ could provide GBP 1.45 billion boost to UK’s struggling sectors

Posted by | May 1, 2008 | |

Innovative measures help the organisation cut absence by 25 pct and save GBP 227 million in three years

Health and wellbeing initiatives introduced by Royal Mail Group could hold the key to reducing the impact of absence across the UK’s worst performing sectors and deliver savings of GBP 1.45 billion a year, a study by the London School of Economics revealed today.

In its ‘ Value of Rude Health’ report – the result of a unique, year-long study – the London School of Economics also calculated that the value of Royal Mail Group’s approach to tackling absence could bring more than 94,000 people absent through illness or injury back into work more quickly.

The study revealed that Royal Mail Group’s health and wellbeing activities have:
• Slashed absence by 25 pct between 2004 and 2007
• Brought 3,600 employees absent through illness or injury back into work
• Saved more than GBP 227 million in terms of direct costs (wages and benefits)

Royal Mail Group’s success in cutting absence by a quarter has been achieved through:
• Health screening for employees and occupational support services including physio and occupational therapy
• Health clinics in more than 90 Royal Mail Group sites to help people return to work and prevent them getting ill
• Fitness centres run by trained instructors in larger sites
• Health promotion campaigns targeting smoking and back pain
• Increased support and training for managers to improve the effectiveness of absence to attendance policies

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