Post Office counter staff have overwhelmingly rejected a 2.4pc pay offer, opening up a second front in the Royal Mail’s ongoing dispute with the Communication Workers Union.
National officer Andy Furey warned that a refusal to sweeten the offer could lead to a ballot over industrial action by more than 7,000 counter services and cash-in-transit staff.
In a consultative ballot, 91pc of votes were cast against accepting the Post Office’s offer.
Read MoreThe Royal Mail is planning to open post offices at WH Smith stores.
Under the partnership deal proposal, WH Smith will integrate post offices into their retail stores. Post Office programme director Byron Roberts said: “This partnership between two trusted organisations is good news for customers and will enable us to both safeguard and enhance their Post Office services in the future.
“WH Smith Retail’s huge experience and knowledge will ensure that Post Office customers continue to receive a high standard of service.”
Read MoreIan Duncan, 45, chief financial officer and senior vice-president of the nuclear design and technology group Westinghouse, is to join Royal Mail as finance director. Reporting to chief executive Adam Crozier, Mr Duncan will be a member of Royal Mail’s main board and takes up his new position on September 1. He spent three years as an auditor with the chartered accountants Deloitte and Touche, before joining investment bankers Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and then British Nuclear Fuels, which first acquired and then sold Westinghouse.
Read MoreAs the Royal Mail faces up to its worst industrial crisis for years and the very real prospect of a damaging strike, rival companies such as TNT, DHL and Business Post will be aware of an opportunity.
Such companies have increasingly “cherry picked” the Royal Mail’s business – a trend that was given a fillip on 1 January when the Royal Mail’s letters monopoly was finally removed.
The state company’s competitors had already been creaming off the bulk mailing business used by large financial companies, utilities and government departments. Under a gradual deregulation process, rivals had been allowed to handle batches of 4,000 items and more since 2002. Under a so-called “access” agreement, private sector competitors collect the post from the organisations concerned, then distribute it to regional centres where it is then handed over to Royal Mail offices to be taken “the final mile”. The state-owned organisation receives 13p per item it delivers under the access arrangement, whereas the figure goes up to an average 17p if it supplies the full service.
Since 1 January and “full liberalisation”, Royal Mail’s competitors have been introducing services for smaller batches of mail, eating further into the Royal Mail’s bread-and-butter operations. Business Post’s UK Mail division has recently launched a service for volumes as low as 250 letters a day.
Read MorePOSTAL UNIONS are poised to call for the first national strike in a decade tomorrow after rejecting a pay deal with the Royal Mail following talks last week.
The postal executive of the Communication Workers Union is expected to recommend strike action to its 150,000 members when it meets tomorrow. The decision follows intensive talks over a 2.9 per cent pay offer that has been imposed on employees.
During negotiations on Friday between Royal Mail head of personnel Tony McCarthy and the CWU’s deputy general secretary Dave Ward, the Royal Mail offer was increased to around 3.5 per cent.
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