Unions warn of strikes as staff voted against privatisation
Employees at Royal Mail are set to receive shares worth £2,000 after the government announced it would sell the organisation during this financial year.
Business secretary Vince Cable unveiled privatisation plans, which will gift 10 per cent of the business to the 150,000 strong workforce, in Parliament earlier this week.
Cable described the move as creating "the biggest employee share scheme for nearly 30 years" and said that the government’s sale decision was a “practical and logical” one.
A statement from Royal Mail said that more of its employees will be able to participate in the Free Share scheme than in any other major UK privatisation for almost three decades years.
However, the news has prompted strike threats from unions representing Royal Mail workers who are worried about future job security and potential changes to terms and conditions.
Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the flotation of Royal Mail on the stock market “ignored the views of the workforce” and the public.
“The workforce agreed a modernisation programme with Royal Mail three years ago and it didn't include privatisation. They have worked hard to modernise the company and deliver the profitable organisation Royal Mail is today. They have recently voted in big numbers against the sale and they will be angered by the announcement,” Ward added
"CWU will continue to fight the sale and without worthwhile and legally binding assurances on terms and conditions, strike action is inevitable."
But Moya Greene, chief executive of the Royal Mail Group, took a very different view. She said: “Our employees will have a meaningful stake in the company and its future success.
“As we move into the private sector, the current legal position is that all terms and conditions that apply to Royal Mail employees would remain in place, on the same basis. To provide further reassurance, we will create a legally-binding and enforceable contract with the CWU. Pay and protections could not be changed for the period of the contract without CWU agreement,” Greene said.
The employer also said it would continue to have a primarily full-time workforce on an overall national basis, as per current agreements with the CWU. In addition, existing enhanced voluntary redundancy terms and excess travel terms have been extended for the life of the modernisation revisions.
“Our commitment to managing change without recourse to compulsory redundancy will remain in place,” the employer said in a statement.
Highlighting HR’s role in modernising the postal service over the past few years, Frank Douglas, executive vice president, global HR director at Misys Banking Systems, tweeted that he had heard Greene “thank her HR team as key to the turnaround of Royal Mail”.