Royal Mail is risking a PR and operational disaster following reports that thousands of its temporary Christmas staff have complained about not getting paid – with some even threatening walk-outs.
Internet chat forums and local newspapers have been besieged by temps working the length and breadth of the country, from Bristol and Chelmsford to Canterbury and Doncaster.
The postal operator made a big deal over its plans to recruit 18,000 temporary workers across the UK over the Christmas period – 15,000 in England, 2,000 in Scotland, 1,000 in Wales and 400 in Northern Ireland – at a cost of £15m.
The issue has been blamed on Angard Staffing, the Royal Mail’s staffing arm outsourced to Reed Specialist Recruitment.
Royal Mail insists there are no problems, but one temp has been quoted as saying: “Angard owe me for 50+ hours from my first week of work 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t received it. Their contact number they provided casuals with is either constantly engaged or they just don’t bother answering as I found out by spending half hour on hold this morning.
Another added: “I work at the Doncaster sorting office and haven’t seen any of my money for my first week’s work, nor have any of my Angard colleagues and there’s at least 40 of us there… and we work long, hard hours. My shift is 7am to 3pm, with one half hour break – unpaid! Needless to say, I can’t get a response from Angard about when I will be paid, the impression I’ve got is that they simply don’t give a toss about us.”
A third said: “We have staff in the Kent mail centres who have not been paid. The managers have washed their hands of it, not their responsibility. Most staff are owed 44hrs+ and they don’t get paid for meal breaks either, very poor service from an inexperienced set up.”
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