Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) yesterday agreed a deal to end thelong-running pay and working conditions dispute that has hit the British postal sector since the
summer.Royal Mail announced that the CWU had accepted its offer on pay along with plans to modernisethe company and reform the pension scheme. The British national postal operator said it could nowgo ahead with essential plans to modernise the business and make it more flexible, efficient andcompetitive.
Under the agreement, staff will get an increase of 5.4% on basic pay and weekday overtimefrom 1 October (equivalent to a cost of 2.5% in the financial year from April 2007 to March 2008),a one-off sum of £175 from an existing employee “share of savings” scheme and a further 1.5% payrise next April if all the reforms are made. The CWU agreed on new working times and variousmodernisation measures, including the deployment of new technology.
Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier said: “All along we have been clear that to becomecompetitive we needed flexibility to modernise and we needed to reform our pension scheme becausethe costs were crippling the company. This deal, which is within the parameters we clearly set forpay this year, gives Royal Mail a fighting chance of success in the future.”
The CWU’s exective yesterday ratified the deal and will shortly ballot its members on theagreement. The union pointed out that the pay rise was an improvement on Royal Mail’s original payfreeze and then an offer of 2.5%, and all changes would be negotiated with the union in future.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary said: “This has been a long dispute but the agreementreflects the fact that change in the company will only be managed with the union and the workforce.We have made significant gains on pay and related issues and the union’s role in negotiating changein the workplace has been strengthened.”
