Tag: Royal Mail

Royal Mails Postal union demands 27% pay rise

Posted by | Mar 21, 2007 | |

Royal Mail is facing union demands for a 27 per cent pay rise that the post group claims will cost an extra GBP 1 billion a year, The Times has learnt.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has asked for the minimum payment of its members to be brought into line with average basic pay in the UK. The main postal union is also demanding that its members work a 35-hour week, rather than the existing 40 hours.

The CWU says that postal workers, who earn a minimum of GBP 311 per week, should be able to benefit from investment and improvements expected in the business over the next few years.

In a letter to Royal Mail, Dave Ward, the CWU deputy general secretary, said: “Given the proposed scale of change within the company, we require a pay settlement that achieves UK average basic pay for OPGs [outdoor postal grades]. This was set at GBP 395 per week in 2006 and we are undertaking research to establish whether the figure has subsequently increased.”

The CWU says that the rise could be phased in, although Royal Mail said that the union had called for the increase to be immediate.

The postal organisation, which has a pension deficit of GBP 6.6 billion and recently reported a plunge in its profits, says that it cannot afford such a rise. A spokesman said: “This pay claim will cost us GBP 1 billion at a time when we are facing full competition and the cost of servicing our pension deficit is pushing our profits down 86 per cent.” The group maintains that it already pays better rates than its competitors.

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Royal Mail reveals direct mail dip

Posted by | Mar 21, 2007 | |

The Royal Mail has released figures which show that direct mail volumes and expenditure are falling.

Volumes for 2006 were down to 5.03 billion items, a 2.1 per cent drop on last year’s figures. Total expenditure dropped from GBP2.37bn in 2005 to GBP2.32bn in 2006. Quarterly comparisons show volumes for October to December 2006 down 4.6 per cent on the corresponding quarter last year.

Royal Mail officials remain bullish, however, despite the results.

Leonora Corden, head of market development at Royal Mail argues: “This is the result of companies across all sectors improving their targeting to create even more relevant and personal offers for their customers and prospects.”

The company cites a growing reliance on direct mail by a number of industry sectors, including building societies, charities, government, health, media and insurance. Also noticeable is a rise in the volume of direct mail sent to the 55-64 year old age group.

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Glasgow City Council points to post office closure fears

Posted by | Mar 19, 2007 | |

Scotland’s largest local authority has warned of a further raft of post office closures within the next 18 months.
Glasgow City Council has also criticised a commitment to ensure that 99% of the population of deprived areas are within a mile of a post office, saying the criterion was a reduction on a previous guarantee which cited half a mile.
The council suggests co-locating postal services in an accessible hub, alongside health centres, libraries and leisure centres. The authority made its criticisms in an official response to the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) consultation on the future of Scotland’s post offices.
The DTI is currently collating thousands of responses to proposals to close 2500 post offices throughout the UK, some 600 of which are expected to be in Scotland.
Glasgow City Council, which posted an official response on its website, predicts mounting problems for disabled and elderly if more offices close as well as longer queues, poorer facilities, loss of community cohesion and damaging repercussions for local shops and businesses.
The local authority is also supporting sub-postmasters in demanding the government carry out a full assessment of the social and economic role played by post offices and that it spells out the future size and purpose of post offices.

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DM volumes drop by 2.1% in 2006

Posted by | Mar 14, 2007 | |

Volumes in direct mail are continuing to fall with just over 5bn items sent in 2006, a dip of 2.1%.

Figures from Royal Mail published this week also showed that expenditure dropped by 2.1% to £2.32bn and consumer DM volumes fell by 1.6% to just below 4bn items. Business DM fell 3.6% to just over 1bn.

But over the last quarter of 2006 charities, government and health sectors and building societies boosted their volumes of DM. Charities boosted their use of DM by 9.1% to 132.2m items while the government sent out 17.4m mailings, up by 6%.

Royal Mail market development manager Emily Travis said: “The charity sector has long recognised the benefits of direct mail and these figures reinforce its importance to them as a marketing tool.”

Overall volumes in the fourth sector of 2006 were at 958.6m compared to 1bn in the same period last year.

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UK High Court rejects Royal Mail's appeal against Postcomm

Posted by | Mar 13, 2007 | |

The High Court has upheld the GBP 9.62 million financial penalty Postcomm levied on Royal Mail for failing to protect adequately the mail in its care, following an appeal of the penalty by Royal Mail. The judgment reinforces Postcomm’s position that the fine is proportionate and reflective of the loss suffered by customers.
Royal Mail did not dispute Postcomm’s finding that it breached its licence requirements to keep mail safe and secure, nor that this breach was serious; it appealed only against the level of the financial penalty.
On 24 August 2006, Postcomm imposed a financial penalty of GBP 9.62 million on Royal Mail for breaching its licence by failing to properly protect the mail in its care. The penalty followed a review of Royal Mail’s mail integrity procedures, during which Postcomm found that some important features of Royal Mail’s procedures were not being applied across the business.
The most significant weakness found was the poor management of the recruitment and training process for non-contract (agency) staff. In addition, the framework and information systems that Royal Mail had put in place to prevent the loss, theft or damage of mail were not operating effectively. These weaknesses significantly reduced the company’s ability to protect customers’ mail.

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