Mail strike time bomb

Deadline as staff unease grows

ROYAL Mail faces an August deadline to avoid the threat of a strike.

The privatised postal giant is at loggerheads with unions over plans to close its final salary pension scheme, which will affect around 90,000 staff.

But the row is in danger of escalating amid claims that Royal Mail’s management are ignoring wider concerns among the workforce.

At the heart of the issue are what the Community Workers Union calls its “four pillars of security.”

Along with the pension dispute, they include reviewing an agreement put in place when Royal Mail was privatised that would prevent the use of zero hours contracts and the sale of parts of the business.

Other areas cover talks on a possible phased reduction on the average working week given the increasingly use of technology. The CWU says it began discussions with Royal Mail about the four areas last year but has been disappointed by the firm’s response.

Terry Pullinger, the CWU’s deputy general secretary for postal, said the union was nearing a “philosophical crossroads”. He added: “We are heading for conflict. If we haven’t made significant progress by August we would have to consider where we are.

“If we are still miles apart we would have to \move towards industrial action.

“This is connected to the growing insecurity in the world of work.”

Royal Mail wants to close its defined salary pension scheme to new accruals, stopping existing member putting in extra payments. It argues a surplus will run out next year and the £400million a year it is paying in would need to soar to £1billion. The CWU has put forward alternative proposals.