Royal Mail privatisation on new government's agenda

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://abbey.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/shar ... id=3470162" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LONDON (SHARECAST) - The new Conservative-Liberal government may face a bruising battle with the postal unions after it made part-privatisation of the Royal Mail one of its main policy objectives.

There were no details on how the new government would achieve part-privatisation, but the injection of private money into the postal service was one of the main proposals in a formal document of the coalition government’s aims and ambitions.

Reports this morning suggested Business Secretary Vince Cable will try to head off any union disruption by giving employees a sizeable stake in the business going forward.

The reports suggested the government will sell a 49% stake to a private group with the remaining 51% held half by the government and half by employees. The government could also take on the Royal Mail’s £10bn of pension liabilities to help facilitate a stake sale.

Plans by the previous government to sell off part of the Royal Mail ran into stiff union opposition, who only agreed to the plans after a series of strikes and what amounted in effect to a big cash pay-off.

The plans were shelved anyway after the then Business Secretary Lord Mandelson could not get the price he wanted for a 30% stake from the private sector.

The Conservative-LibDem government is said to want to avoid any major industrial disruption given both parties' lack of a clear mandate from voters.

[DGP1]

The government could also take on the Royal Mail’s £10bn of pension liabilities to help facilitate a stake sale.

More like to take the pension fund and sell it off to help pay the massive national debt

[clashcityrocker]

It might not be happening as quickly as some people think.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/articl ... ds-newsxml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;