The main British postal union will hold a strike ballot over pay and working conditions aftertalks with Royal Mail broke down. The dispute centres on an imposed 2.9% pay rise and fears of
future job losses. The union claims that Royal Mail has plans to cut 40,000 jobs and change workingpractices.The Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced it will send out ballot papers to its 136,000members at the British postal operator from July 10, with the ballot closing on July 31. But italso offered the company a further week of talks before the ballots are distributed.
CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes said: “Imposing an un-agreed pay rise was always going tocreate conflict. This is a serious decision, but the union has provided a window of a weekfor Royal Mail to use their energies to reach a settlement with our negotiating team.”
Reiterating its readiness to negotiate, Royal Mail has stressed that any redundancies will bevoluntary and through natural staff turnover. The postal company had earlier offered 2.9% plus afurther 1% through productivity benefits.
Royal Mail recently announced a major improvement in its financial performance in 2005/06 aswell as a partial solution to its pension fund gap. But it remains under strong competitivepressure following the full de-regulation of the British mail sector as of January 1, 2006.
