In a landmark vote, the first major one to take place since the Trade Union Act came into force in March – requiring more than 50% of eligible union members to vote in a ballot – 73.7% of the Communication Workers Union’s (CWU) 110,000 Royal Mail workers turned out to vote, with 89% (72,872) backing a walkout and 8,954 voting against.
In a CWU press conference yesterday (3 October) in Manchester, general secretary Dave Ward said the result was demonstrative that Royal Mail’s leadership, board and senior management are “completely out of touch with the workforce”.
“We say to Royal Mail these negotiations that subsequently led us to this point of balloting have been going on for 18 months and unless you shift your position sufficiently and very quickly then industrial action is inevitable.
“When Royal Mail was privatised around four years ago our members were given free shares. What this result means to the company is that as workers and as shareholders, postal workers have completely rejected the direction that the company is going in and have completely rejected messages to try and urge all our members to vote against our union.”
Unite’s Royal Mail officer Brian Scott distanced his union, which represents around 6,500 Royal Mail managers, from the decision.
“It’s fair to say we are not in dispute with the employer at the minute,” Scott told PrintWeek.
“Members albeit narrowly have rejected the company’s pension position and we want the company to respond with a better offer.
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