Workers to lobby against Royal Mint privatisation
by Emmeline Saunders
Workers from the Royal Mint will today lobby MPs to prevent the government “selling off the family silver” with plans to privatise the company.
Chancellor Alastair Darling’s budget in April this year confirmed the Mint will be sold off, putting the security of 765 staff jobs in Llantrisant, South Wales, at risk.
Members of Unite, PCS and Prospect, the unions that represents workers from the Royal Mint, are fighting to keep “the nation’s silver in public hands”.
Unite’s national officer Kevin Coyne said: “Staff at Royal Mint will tell MPs, it’s in the best interests of the country and Royal Mint to keep the nation’s silver in the public purse.
“The private sector cannot be allowed to ‘coin in’ on Royal Mint’s profits, as well hundreds of years of tradition and craftsmanship.”
But Royal Mint chief executive Andrew Stafford welcomed the move. Speaking to WalesOnline, he said privatisation would “allow the business to take advantage of wider commercial opportunities”.
The plans were unveiled by Mr Darling despite the Mint making a profit of £10m last year, which earned the Treasury a £4.3m net revenue.
In April, former civil servant Gerry Grimestone recommended the introduction of private capital to the Mint. Exchequer secretary to the Treasury Sarah McCarthy-Fry is understood to have not yet made a decision on any possible future privatisation plans.
