Royal Mail is calling on mediators to help avoid national walkouts by postal workers but is notready to raise its pay offer. The move follows failed face-to-face talks with the Communication
Workers Union (CWU) last week.A clear majority of Royal Mail’s 130,000 postal staff has voted in favour of strikes over payand restructuring. The company has offered a 2.5% pay rise for 2007 and one-off payments of up toEUR 1100 for changes to working. The union wants a better offer in line with inflation.
The British postal operator has now written to the UK conciliation service Acas to set up ameeting with the CWU to explain its position and warn about the impact of strike action on thecompany. But executives have stressed that it will not improve its offer.
Following last week’s inconclusive talks, CWU Deputy General Secretary, Dave Ward said: “Wehave provided Royal Mail with a practical and reasonable solution and are determined to negotiatefurther. It is outrageous that the business is ignoring the clear message from theirworkforce and appear to be provoking a postal strike rather than resolving one”.
“If there is no progress within the next few days; we will have no alternative but toannounce strike action. It is now down to Allan Leighton to return to talks to stop the firstnational postal strike in eleven years”.
In response, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “Royal Mail has absolutely no option but to changeand modernise the business, urgently. That involves a £1.2 billion investment in the business – theopposite of the ’cost-cutting frenzy’ the union talks about and it is designed to ensure Royal Mailcan compete successfully in an increasingly tough market.
