Postal union bosses are this week expected to make a decision on whether to call a national strike ballot of Royal Mail posties, as they continue their fight against the proposed privatisation of the postal service.
The Communications Workers Union has already received support from its members over the issue, with a recent consultative ballot showing 96% oppose privatisation, 92% support a final mile delivery boycott, 92% support a policy of “non-cooperation”, and 99% support the CWU pay claim. There are also concerns about reduced pension pay-outs.
However it would take an official ballot for any industrial action to be approved; a move which they union hopes could put City firms off from investing in the business.
About 500 representatives from the CWU are due to convene at a two-day forum in London. On Thursday they will discuss a timetable for holding a ballot of 115,000 Royal Mail employees by September.
Royal Mail has offered an 8.6% rise in basic pay over three years and a legally binding contract with the CWU to protect pay and conditions over that period.
But Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said the offer on job protection “wasn’t worth the paper it was written on”. The union is holding out for a ten-year pay and conditions agreement, formally underwritten by the Government.
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