Royal Mail's 'one price goes anywhere' service under threat

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... trike.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Royal Mail row intensified this evening amid claims its 'one-price-goes-anywhere' postal service is under threat as workers prepared to go on strike.

The bitter dispute deepened despite a humiliating Government U-turn on proposals to delay selling off a chunk of the company to the private sector.

The author of the review which called for part-privatisation, Richard Hooper, warned that delaying the sale would jeopardise the future of the Royal Mail's 'universal service'.

This 169-year obligation guarantees that letters posted anywhere in Britain from the Cornish coast to the Scottish highlands will be collected and delivered for the same price.

But Mr Hooper was accused of 'scaremongering' when he claimed the failure to resolve the Royal Mail's £10billion pension deficit could signal the end of this commitment.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, he said that unless action was taken the company would be forced to pay huge sums to fill the financial black hole.

He said: 'If you have a £9billion or £10billion pension deficit, you are in financial trouble. The universal postal service, the delivery of letters six day a week to 28 million households across the UK, is threatened by the finances of the Royal Mail.'

The sell-off was intended to make the Royal Mail more competitive, improve its management and inject about £1billion a year into the company's pension fund.

Under the plan, spearheaded by Lord Mandelson, the service would become viable because the Government would take on the huge retirement liabilities, which cover 450,000 past and present staff.

But after a massive rebellion by Labour backbenchers, the Business Secretary announced that no bidder was prepared to offer enough money to buy a minority stake in the Royal Mail.

Yesterday a spokesman for the Business Department said: 'There is a threat of unaffordability over the universal service obligation. If the situation is not resolved, there will be questions about the Royal Mail being able to continue it.'

In 2007-08, the universal service lost around £105million - only the second time in its history it had fallen into the red.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government would not bail out the pension scheme without a sell-off. He said it could not 'cherry-pick', adding: 'We have to look at the problems of Royal Mail as a whole. That includes restructuring and modernisation.'

But Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers' Union, said: 'The universal service can survive in the public sector. This is proved by Royal Mail's record financial results. Richard Hooper didn't pay enough attention to the universal service and is now scaremongering.'

Meanwhile, the CWU said thousands of postal workers are preparing to walk out on strike next week creating further havoc for the Royal Mail.

They will stage a three-day walkout across London from Wednesday in protest over modernisation plans.

Lord Mandelson condemned union members for their 'head-in-the sand approach'.

He said: 'The Royal Mail needs to change and modernise to turn itself round and compete effectively. The union nationally agreed a way forward two years ago but its own branches are standing in the way of progress.'

[axeman]

it makes me wonder how much did he stand to gain out of sell off ????

And please note mr hooper the pension deficit was caused by 'yes' the government' who allowed royal fail to take the pension holliday

[norbert]

it makes me wonder how much did he stand to gain out of sell off ????

And please note mr hooper the pension deficit was caused by 'yes' the government' who allowed royal fail to take the pension holliday

it did seem like a cat minding pigeons and that report was rewritten on " His Mandinesses " orders . Same pathetic threats - shyster !

[BELIAL]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... trike.html


The sell-off was intended to make the Royal Mail more competitive, improve its management and inject about £1billion a year into the company's pension fund.




od Mandelson condemned union members for their 'head-in-the sand approach'.

He said: 'The Royal Mail needs to change and modernise to turn itself round and compete effectively. The union nationally agreed a way forward two years ago but its own branches are standing in the way of progress.'

It's a wonder these people manage to keep a straight face when they utter this drivel.You don't have to look very far to see that the privatisation panacea is nothing of the sort.
The wonderfully efficient BT with its dynamite private sector management ; ultra modern world leading fibre optic technology ; its competitor busting development of system X , Somehow managed to make a loss in excess of £1 billion last year. Bet they tell their employees that the volume of calls is dropping cos everyone is writing letters and are too busy queueing to post their ebay sales to use their broadband

[k979aaa]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... trike.html


The sell-off was intended to make the Royal Mail more competitive, improve its management and inject about £1billion a year into the company's pension fund.




od Mandelson condemned union members for their 'head-in-the sand approach'.

He said: 'The Royal Mail needs to change and modernise to turn itself round and compete effectively. The union nationally agreed a way forward two years ago but its own branches are standing in the way of progress.'

It's a wonder these people manage to keep a straight face when they utter this drivel.You don't have to look very far to see that the privatisation panacea is nothing of the sort.
The wonderfully efficient BT with its dynamite private sector management ; ultra modern world leading fibre optic technology ; its competitor busting development of system X , Somehow managed to make a loss in excess of £1 billion last year. Bet they tell their employees that the volume of calls is dropping cos everyone is writing letters and are too busy queueing to post their ebay sales to use their broadband

It is either that or all the postage they pay for their BT TRACKED products!.

[BELIAL]

Sorry got that wrong ,BT did not lose £1billion last year, BT lost £1.3 billion in the last three months

[BELIAL]

So ,at a conservative estimate ,assuming the trend continues(not unreasonable in the present systemic meltdown)BT stand to go under by £5.2 billion this year Work that out with our so called pension deficit