RM workers will get 10% of privatised business

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11389720" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail workers will be offered at least 10% of the business's shares if it is privatised.

A postal service bill is expected next month, which will set out the coalition government's plans to privatise the Royal Mail.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail staff, is strongly opposed to privatisation.

If taken up, the workers' share would be the biggest of any privatised UK company for 25 years.

The privatisation of BT in 1984 created the biggest number of employee shareholders.

The plan was announced by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, at the Liberal Democrat annual conference in Liverpool.

He said that "mutual ownership" would be promoted, spreading worker ownership alongside private capital.

"The Liberal Democrats were the first and only party to call for an employee stake and we are now implementing it in government."

Billy Hayes, the general secretary of the CWU, said his members would not be impressed with the plan: "Any offer of shares to employees is deeply patronising for people who have invested their working lives to a public service."

Mr Cable reiterated that the plans did not include the sale of the Royal Mail's Post Office business.

In a briefing note published by the Liberal Democrats on Wednesday, the party said the recent report by Richard Hooper had highlighted that the Royal Mail was a company "on the brink".

The briefing said: "It faces a lethal combination of challenges, from falling number of letters being sent to potentially one of the worst pension positions in UK corporate history."

But the report stressed any sale of the business was not necessarily imminent.

It said that the extent of private sector investment and the speed at which shares were sold would depend on market conditions, getting best value for the taxpayer and securing a sustainable future for Royal Mail.


Royal Mail's woes

* Pension deficit up from £2.9bn in 2008 to £8bn in 2010
* Size of daily mailbag down from 84m in 2005 to 71m in 2010
* Losses at Royal Mail Letters grew to £333m, from £200m last year
* Global mail volumes predicted to decline by 25-40% by 2015

Source: Hooper review 2010

The Lib Dems said they were keen to draw lessons from the success of the employee scheme at stores giant John Lewis and other companies with significant employee share ownership.

The CWU has been lobbying delegates at the conference all week, urging them to keep all of Royal Mail in the public sector.

Last week's TUC conference supported an emergency motion from the CWU, which warned that hundreds of post offices would close and the universal postal service would end if the business was sold off.

The Royal Mail employs 180,000 workers.

[teletubby]

i hope posties do not get confused and think that all this talk of selloff and shares to employees etc means something for nothing.....maybe shares at a reduced price at best?

[Stormproof]

They can stick their shares. I'm not interested in blackmail or bribery or whatever you want to call it.

[hairyjack]

Yeah yeah, whatever vince.

[teletubby]

££££££ signs will win ......i am sorry to say.Greed is king for most people.......i wish i was wrong

[mjw]

Did we not make a profit last year?

[Danelectro]

10%? thats halved since they made the announcement two weeks ago,anyway 20% or 10% of nothing is still nothing.

[balintober]

No mention of the pension, who stumps up the £8 billion?

[Stormproof]

No mention of the pension, who stumps up the £8 billion?

The government (well the taxpayer) will pick up that tab. The government took the pensions holiday that lead to the deficit, so rightly they should pay for it now.

[meercat]

Any estimates of what that will equate to?

If company valued at say 1billion 10% is 100million. 100,000 employees sharing 100million would be...mmm...
1grand each?

You can say bye bye to twice that from your pay-packet once TNT start setting our wage levels.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Any estimates of what that will equate to?

If company valued at say 1billion 10% is 100million. 100,000 employees sharing 100million would be...mmm...
1grand each?

You can say bye bye to twice that from your pay-packet once TNT start setting our wage levels.

Current figures:

RM worth £4Billion

RML employees 180,000

Shares at 10% would mean £2,222

Worth it: well I let the monkey decide

[Stormproof]

Worth it: well I let the monkey decide

Nice one Teebs

[maisymoo04]

no its not nice we were supposed to be gettin £5100 colleuge shares from last years deal,were the f*** our they then o yes thats it they were part of the 2010 and beyond f***** sh***

[Big Daz]

Will parcelforce stay with RML?

[PostieWithTheMostie!]

Can they still give you the bullet if you where a shareholder???