Events | 2009.10.19
Royal Mail in talks to avert strikes
The meeting, at an undisclosed location, is a last-ditch attempt to prevent postal staff going on strike on Thursday and Friday
Royal Mail is holding last-ditch talks with union officials today in an attempt to avoid industrial action that could cripple Christmas deliveries.
The meeting, at an undisclosed location, is the latest attempt to prevent postal staff across the UK going on strike on Thursday and Friday.
The dispute has turned increasingly bitter in recent days, with the Communication Workers\' Union accusing Royal Mail of breaking the law by hiring 30,000 temporary workers . Both sides indicated this morning that they want to avoid a strike, but there was little sign of a breakthrough.
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU, blamed Royal Mail for not allowing the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to mediate in the talks.
"We are quite willing to compromise, but everytime we ask Royal Mail to bring in someone independent they back away," said Hayes. He added that Royal Mail was not prepared to go to Acas "without preconditions".
For its part, Royal Mail insisted that it was doing everything it could to reach agreement - and indicated that it was prepared to involve Acas if the CWU cancelled the strike.
"Royal Mail has had around 80 meetings with the CWU in recent months and we are continuing to talk to the union to try to avert their totally unjustified strikes," a Royal Mail spokesman told Sky News.
"In addition [chief executive] Adam Crozier has invited Billy Hayes to meet him more than a dozen times and Billy Hayes has not even responded."
The CWU is angry that up to 30,000 temporary workers are being drafted in to help with postal deliveries. There are fears that their presence could inflame the situation. But Royal Mail insists that the move does not break employment law as the small army of extra staff will just be dealing with the backlog caused by the strike.
"This year, we are recruiting more and recruiting them earlier but we are not recruiting them to do the postmen\'s job, we are recruiting them to help with the extra Christmas mail and help with the backlog," said Mark Higson, managing director of Royal Mail Letters.
"We are quite clear that our procedures are in line with legal requirements and what we need to do to give service to customers over this period."
The CWU, though, claimed that any agency who supplied temporary staff to Royal Mail during the strike could be fined £5,000 per worker.
In the latest twist to the long-running dispute, Britain\'s largest private mail operator, TNT, is seeking permission to handle the delivery of letters across the UK . This would create a rival service for the \'last-mile\' of door-to-door deliveries.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/19/royal-mail-union-meeting
