Tag: Royal Mail

The postal workers’ union bitterly attacked Royal Mail yesterday after the group said it would award a 2.9 per cent pay rise rejected by the union’s leaders. The Communication Workers’ Union said it wanted further talks on the offer and that imposing the deal was “premature and a blatantly hostile act”.
Dave Ward, deputy general secretary, said: “With Royal Mail’s prevailing attitude, a confrontation seems inevitable in the near future.” But Royal Mail said the staff were entitled to the money. “It is backdated to the beginning of April and it is right they should get it now.” The settlement follows payment last year of a bonus of Pounds 1,074 to its employees as reward for their co-operation in returning it to profit over the previous three years.

Royal Mail was on a collision course with its main union last night after it imposed a 2.9 per cent pay rise on staff that had already been rejected by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU). The move was described as “a blatantly hostile act” by the CWU and could provoke a national strike. To impose a pay deal without union agreement in organisations where there is collective bargaining is usually seen as a last resort and is a sign of a breakdown in industrial relations. Royal Mail’s decision, early in the bargaining process, comes as the postal group has moved to block a ballot by the CWU over controversial plans for employee share ownership. Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “Imposing the pay offer is premature and a blatantly hostile act. We are refusing to be pulled on to the punch today, but with Royal Mail’s attitude a confrontation seems inevitable.”

Royal Mail was accused last night of appearing undemocratic and heavy-handed after banning unions from conducting a ballot at work on employee share ownership. The Times has learnt that all mail managers have been told to prohibit the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) from holding a consultative ballot in mail centres on the controversial plans for share ownership. Managers were also told to tear down union posters that are not on designated notice boards. The ban comes as Allan Leighton, Royal Mail’s chairman, has written to all employees extolling the virtues of share ownership and asking for their support via a freepost address, the deadline for which has just been extended.
Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said: “For a public company to deny the opportunity of the workforce to express an opinion and also to seek to undermine the Labour Party manifesto commitment to keep Royal Mail in the public sector is deeply disturbing for standards in public life.”

The Labour Party risks one of its biggest showdowns with the unions and the loss of an important source of funds if the Government announces plans to give Royal Mail workers shares in the postal group. Royal Mail expects the Government to outline plans for Pounds 2 billion of state investment and an employee share ownership scheme as early as next week, when the group publishes its financial results. Such a move could trigger the cutting of funds to Labour by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which holds its annual conference the following week. The CWU gives more than Pounds 500,000 a year to Labour through affiliation fees and donates more for election campaigns. The union and Labour backbenchers have voiced their opposition to the employee share scheme, which they view as the first step to privatisation.

Sub-Postmasters in the Isle of Wight are considering running their own mail service, with their own stamps and franking, to try to stave off the closure of their rural post offices. They believe that 35 of the island’s 52 post offices are under threat and claim that their future may depend on declaring independence from the Royal Mail for local collections and deliveries. Rodney Archer, the secretary of the island branch of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, said members had voted unanimously to form their own independent business association to investigate a range of proposals to win new custom, including setting up their own collection, sorting and delivery service.