New call to halt Royal Mail sale

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Postal workers and managers have been joined by scores of MPs as they stepped up their campaign against controversial plans to privatise the Royal Mail with a call to "wake up Westminster."

Postal workers and managers have been joined by scores of MPs as they stepped up their campaign against controversial plans to privatise the Royal Mail with a call to "wake up Westminster."

Politicians from the Labour, SNP, Plaid Cymru, Green and SDLP parties took part in a packed meeting in Westminster, amid growing warnings about the impact on jobs and services if the sell-off goes ahead.

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said 96% of union members had voted against privatisation, and the public didn't want it to happen, leaving politicians the only ones supporting the "tired, old argument."

He said: "Our members are up for the fight because we know that the threat to the future of the Royal Mail is not from the workforce, it is from politicians who cannot think of any new ideas.

"Why throw away 300 years of British heritage? If privatisation goes ahead it will destroy the universal service obligation. Put Royal Mail into the hands of private companies and they will not be interested in mail that costs them money."

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said Labour was opposed to privatisation, adding: "It makes no sense to me at all to privatise the profit and nationalise the debt of Royal Mail.

"The Government says this is not a fire sale, that legislation went through two years ago. But they're ignoring all the change since then - the pensions solution, better industrial relations and the company back in profit. The Government choses to ignore these facts. The sale is about getting George Osborne out of a hole. It's nothing to do with the national interest and everything to do with politics."

The lobby followed rejection by the CWU of an offer by Royal Mail of a three-year pay deal to around 125,000 employees. The union described the proposed deal as a "sweetener" ahead of privatisation, and warned of industrial conflict.

The company said the proposed deal would increase base rates by 8.6%, with a lump sum of £300 in December 2013, adding that it wanted a "new model" for the company to work together with the CWU.

But the union rejected the proposal, branding it "misleading and unacceptable", saying workers had recently voted by 99% for a pay rise without any strings attached, which the company had "ignored".

[UnhappyGremlin]

But the union rejected the proposal, branding it "misleading and unacceptable", saying workers had recently voted by 99% for a pay rise without any strings attached, which the company had "ignored".

Why is ignored in quotation marks?
They did ignore us, and not by a little bit, but by a rather large margin.
To the point they re-coupled pensions to a pay deal, 3 years after de-coupling it, as far as we were concerned, permanently.