Postal workers will be polled on nation-wide industrial action on Thursday in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions as Royal Mail attempts to push through modernisation. Ballot papers are being sent to 121,000 postal workers across the country. The result is expected by October 9.
Royal Mail says cuts and modernisation are vital if it is to compete with more efficient international competitors, but postal unions insist they must also bring "modern pay and conditions". "Postal workers deserve to be rewarded for change," Dave Ward, Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary, said in a statement.
"We want to see a new job security agreement which will help people through this time of change for the company." Royal Mail has condemned the union's decision to go ahead with the ballot as "wholly irresponsible" following months of talks. "The ballot is simply the latest attempt by the CWU to oppose the essential modernisation of Royal Mail on the ground despite its public claims to support change," it said in a statement.
It accused postal workers, some of whom have carried out strike action during the summer, mainly in London, of reneging on existing agreements signed in 2007. Newspapers have shown bags of undelivered post, estimated to amount to millions of letters, piled up at depots.
Royal Mail, which has a large pension deficit, argues that volumes are falling year-on-year by about 10 percent under the challenge of competition in an open market that includes email and the web. In July, the government suspended plans to sell part of Royal Mail due to adverse market conditions. The proposal had been to sell up to 30 percent of the company to make it more efficient and competitive, but the part-privatisation plan had been condemned by some Labour MPs and unions.