Dave Ward : Re Government Announcement

[POSTMAN]

Dear Colleague

Government Announcement to Privatise Remaining 30% of Royal Mail

Following on from yesterday’s announcement that the Government intends to proceed with the sell-off of its remaining 30% stake in Royal Mail, I am writing to let you know the immediate steps we have taken in response to this.

Firstly, we have written to the Government Minister responsible for Royal Mail, Anna Soubry, outlining our opposition to the plans and asking for an urgent meeting with her to discuss this. Secondly, we have contacted the Labour Party and Chuka Umunna (in his role as Shadow Secretary of State for BIS); again asking for an urgent meeting to discuss how they will campaign against this. We have also contacted the SNP to build an alliance against the Government’s proposed action.

There is a clear link between the issues we have been campaigning on with regard to competition, the future of the universal service and employment standards in the postal sector and Government’s latest plans. Full private ownership of Royal Mail will inevitably put greater pressure on these and removes any public voice from the company.

We will give Branches more information about how we will move all of these issues forward at the Postal Branches National Briefing on the 19th June.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward
General Secretary