1st May 2009
By Tash Shifrin
The Communication Workers Union has condemned a proposed pay freeze across the Royal Mail as ‘unacceptable’, as postal workers threaten strikes over job losses in London.
The unrest among CWU members comes as the Postal Services Bill – which includes controversial measures to part-privatise the Royal Mail – is debated in its committee stage in the House of Lords. The CWU has been bitterly opposed to the legislation, while more than 40% of Labour MPs have also publicly taken a stand against the Bill, which has yet to reach the Commons.
Royal Mail signalled the pay freeze in a letter from group human resources director Jon Millidge to CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward.
Millidge cited the effects of recession and economic turmoil on the group’s letters, parcels and post office counters businesses. Against this backdrop, the company was ‘facing a very tight financial position and we do not envisage being able to increase pay rates for any colleagues’, he wrote.
But Ward hit back, saying Royal Mail had posted its best financial results for years in December and outperformed all its financial targets. ‘The people who run Royal Mail have again misjudged an important decision,’ he said.
‘For Britain’s highest-paid civil servant to impose a pay freeze on workers who earn less than the UK average wage is outrageous.’
The move would ‘lead to strife’, he added, although there would be no immediate action. Negotiations were due to take place as Public Finance went to press.
But postal workers in London are already balloting for strike action against restructuring plans that the CWU said would threaten 1,600 jobs in London.
London divisional rep Martin Walsh said: ‘There’s no machinery coming in to help cope with the workload, so these job cuts will have a bad impact on services. The recession means our members would find it hard to get other work so we’ll fight these savage attacks on our industry.’
A Royal Mail spokesman said it had a record of reducing jobs through natural turnover and voluntary redundancy.
Meanwhile, unions representing 1.6 million council workers have formally rejected a 0.5% pay offer. Local government employers have said they will withdraw the offer unless it is accepted by June 1.
