RM sell-off plans to spark new panic over jobs and services

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/city-news/ ... -22550317/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Radical proposals to sell off Royal Mail will finally be unveiled today - triggering renewed fears of savage cuts to jobs and services.

The controversial privatisation, which would unleash the biggest shake-up in the postal giant's history, is recommended in a report commissioned by the ConDems.

Author Richard Hooper is expected to tell ministers a sell-off is the best way of raising the money needed to continue modernising the business.

But it will spark an angry backlash from union leaders and fierce opposition from many worried MPs.

Labour abandoned plans to sell a stake in the business to a private company such as TNT after an outcry from backbenchers. All the party's leadership candidates have voiced opposition to any form of privatisation.

The Communication Workers Union will warn a share sale would shatter the recent peace deal and undermine progress on new working methods.

A settlement, contained in an 80-page document, was reached after a series of strikes in autumn last year.

It included a three-year pay deal, a one-hour cut in the working week and a commitment to keep a workforce with at least 75% of jobs full-time.

A union source said last night: "It would be a real disaster for the industry if that was all thrown out of the window. For the first time in a long time we have stability and a long-term agreement to modernise the business which seems to be working. It also raises questions about who is really running the business."

The CWU is likely to argue Royal Mail is capable of surviving intact. Profits rose 26% last year to £404million after another 8,000 workers were replaced by machines.

Royal Mail Group, which also includes the Post Office and Parcelforce, has already cut more than 62,000 jobs since 2002. It ended second deliveries and Sunday collections but - after a string of bitter strikes - management and unions struck the landmark agreement.

There are now fears that a sell-off could lead to the end of a six-day delivery operation.

It could even threaten the universal service, which guarantees delivery to any address in the UK for a uniform price, although that could be a step too far for ministers.

The other major challenge facing Royal Mail is the shortfall in its pension fund, which has hit £10.3billion.

The Government has little hope of selling the business without relieving new boss Moya Greene, who joined from Canada Post in July, of that headache.

Ministers may try to buy off union hostility by recommending workers are given a stake in the business.

[hubbahubba]

Lets be honest,we are understaffed on the shopfloor as it is,so cant see too many more posties getting the boot.Mailcentre cull is already well on track,so privatisation wont affect jobs here either.The only people i can see who should be scared of this are the managers,top to bottom.Well overstaffed, and almost all without a clue,i can see a lot of them using the phase"you what fries with that?" very soon!

[the dragon]

Lets be honest,we are understaffed on the shopfloor as it is,so cant see too many more posties getting the boot.Mailcentre cull is already well on track,so privatisation wont affect jobs here either.The only people i can see who should be scared of this are the managers,top to bottom.Well overstaffed, and almost all without a clue,i can see a lot of them using the phase"you what fries with that?" very soon!

So you really think, hand on heart, that privitisation will be an end to job cuts amongst the workforce ?? Its also not only about the amount of people that work in RM and the job cuts that would follow but its also about the terms and conditions of the remaining workers. If and when it happens we are all in it up to our necks, management and staff.Please be under no illusion , when it does happen there will be plenty of worried posties out there, including me !!!

[Howard]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/city-news/ ... -22550317/

A union source said last night: "It would be a real disaster for the industry if that was all thrown out of the window. For the first time in a long time we have stability and a long-term agreement to modernise the business which seems to be working.

This just highlights how far away the union are from the average joe postman.

[hubbahubba]

Lets be honest,we are understaffed on the shopfloor as it is,so cant see too many more posties getting the boot.Mailcentre cull is already well on track,so privatisation wont affect jobs here either.The only people i can see who should be scared of this are the managers,top to bottom.Well overstaffed, and almost all without a clue,i can see a lot of them using the phase"you what fries with that?" very soon!

So you really think, hand on heart, that privitisation will be an end to job cuts amongst the workforce ?? Its also not only about the amount of people that work in RM and the job cuts that would follow but its also about the terms and conditions of the remaining workers. If and when it happens we are all in it up to our necks, management and staff.Please be under no illusion , when it does happen there will be plenty of worried posties out there, including me !!!

The job is so bad now getting laid off isn't such a bad thing,as long as you get a pay off.Terms and conditions????lol,thats a good one.Mine have been getting worse,year on year for the 15years ive been in,and privatisation or not,with the CWU and RM now the cosiest of bedfellows,can YOU see it getting any better?nah,thought not.....

[Tman]

Hubba you need to check out the T&Cs of workers in TNT, etc if you really think things are that bad here that they couldn't get much worse.

The CWU (for all it's faults) has at least prevented RM from paying minimum wages to an entirely P/T workforce....or do you think TNT, Citilink etc would pay you good money to just stand there and slam perstorps of junk mail through IMPs?

A future of the barely interested non-English speaking P/T agency operator awaits........although RM are already using a fair few of them....

[axeman]

Yes i have no doubt they are tman and your happy with that situation are you ? you wear your true colors on your shoulder 'boss' wish i was at your place of work man i'd sort out your ethics / lack of. Lets hope in this cull of managers thats approching your the first out the door it's your sort of rhetoric thats caused most of the problems within royal fail the i'll do it sir you know what i mean. Only to happy to slag the workers at floor level off you know the ones who do the work not the non productive ones like yourself.