National strike postponed
Leaders of postal workers’ union, the Communications Workers Union (CWU), last night postponed plans for the first national strike in seven years but requested further talks with Royal Mail.
The CWU was due to send official notification by 17:00 GMT last night that it would ballot its 160,000 members on August 21.
But, the “letter of notification” will be sent later, with the date for the ballot put back a few days.
Royal Mail recommended on Wednesday that the CWU and RM move to formal mediation at the arbitration service ACAS.
Negotiators, led by deputy general secretary Dave Ward, had met Royal Mail managers at the arbitration service ACAS to question RM’s apparently “dishonest” pay offer.
The CWU, which is led by Billy Hayes, says the offer, billed as 14.5 per cent over 18 months, and taking basic pay for postal workers to over ?300 per week, had “more strings than the Philharmonic Orchestra.”
The union said the offer was only 4.5 per cent of upfront money, with the rest linked to performance targets, including an end to the daily second delivery.
They wanted the offer de-coupled from productivity changes and the 30,000 job losses.
Royal Mail is reportedly haemorrhaging some ?750,000 a day, a large figure, though down from the one million mark some months ago.
Royal Mail claims a national strike would devastate its fragile recovery and push it nearer to bankruptcy.
Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier warned the CWU that balloting members could wreck recovery plans.
“Royal Mail will not emerge from even the threat of a ballot unscathed. It’s simple: if postmen and women walk out, customers will walk away and competitors walk in.”
