Postal strike appears inevitable
A mass postal strike appears inevitable after talks aimed at surmounting the pay and conditions impasse ended last night in stalemate.
The first national postal strike for seven years could take place later this month.
The Communication Workers Union will now ballot 160,000 postal workers on strike action.
Negotiators from the CWU and Royal Mail managers failed to ‘improve the chances of averting the strike,’ a spokesman said.
Both parties will meet again at 09:00 BST today but few believe anything positive will emerge to prevent a walkout next week.
The union rejected the Royal Mail’s recent pay offer, said to be worth 14.5 per cent over two years, as it was linked with fluctuating productivity incentives.
The CWU says the offer is only 4.5 per cent in ‘upfront’ money over 18 months, with ‘more strings than the philharmonic orchestra.’
The union wants a basic minimum wage of 300 pounds a week. Some workers only receive 180 pounds a week at present.
Allan Leighton, chairman of Royal Mail, said strikes would be ‘commercial suicide’ and would hit the firm to the tune of about 20 million a day.
The result of the ballot is expected at about 14:00 BST on Wednesday.
The first post strike could fall ahead of the Labour Party conference, which starts on 28 September.
