Communications Workers Union to ballot 4,000 members, as future of city-centre branches remains uncertain
Post Office workers are being balloted for industrial action in a row over pay, which could lead to the threat of closures in as little as a month's time.
The Communications Workers Union is balloting its 4,000 members who work in the largest branches, mostly in city centres, that are directly owned by the Post Office, which is part of Royal Mail.
The union said that the Post Office is refusing to offer a pay rise for counter staff for the current financial year, despite months of negotiations taking place. It also said that the state-owned group is refusing to renew its guarantee, which runs out in April, that none of these remaining 373 branches will be closed.
The Post Office has already offered managers a pay rise of 2.25% for this year. It made a profit of £72m for the 2009-10 financial year, also hiking directors' pay by more than a fifth to £3.9m in the same period.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "POL's [Post Office Limited] attitude is about driving a race to the bottom on terms and conditions for staff and further downsizing the post office network. The company has no vision – and, worse still, appears to have no desire – to give staff a fair and just pay settlement or to work towards a sustainable post-office network. Their approach spells disaster for Post Office employees and will further wreck the services that communities rely on. We have written to Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene today making it clear that we remain available for talks to resolve this dispute."
The government is pressing ahead with new plans to privatise state-owned Royal Mail by selling off part or all of its stake in the postal group. The Post Office, which currently relies on Royal Mail for a third of its revenues, will remain in state hands.
The CWU is opposed to privatisation, and there are concerns over how an independent Post Office will survive once its former parent company is in private hands.