Royal Mail Industrial Action.

The CWU announced yesterday (16th) that their members have voted to start industrial action commencing  4th November 2013. There were a total of 114,786 members balloted of which 56,339 voted yes to industrial action, 15,624 voted no . Perhaps one of the most worrying aspects is that over 45,750 of eligible CWU members apparently didn’t vote.

Just when there may just be signs of a long overdue upturn in the general economy and the direct mail industry, albeit slight, a potential fatal spanner has been thrown in the works. Coming as Christmas postings start to get under way and the busiest time of year for Royal Mail the implications are obvious for Royal Mail and businesses alike, not to mention the ordinary customer , many of whom only use the post at Christmas to send a card to their favorite aunt and pay a ridiculous amount to purchase a postage stamp ( often large letter cost owing to the very clever design/size of cards).

One would think that an 8.6% increase in pay, allowance and overtime over 3 years, an additional lump sum of £300 for working normally during any strike action, not to mention the small matter of 725 shares each (last nights value £3,545) which if kept for 5 years would be tax -free is not a bad deal this day and age. As for the issue of privatisation do the employees not realise it’s happened, they are now privatised and there is nothing they can do about it!

It has been 4 years since the last national postal strike and there is still 2 weeks until the 4th November, lets hope that common sense prevails on all sides and that a solution can be found. Strike action will benefit no one ( not even Third Party Downstream company’s who have to use Royal Mail for “final mile” delivery).

CWU and Royal Mail keep talking and get this sorted!!