Royal
Mail strikes look to have been averted thanks to a 6.9 per cent two-year pay
deal.
The
annual pay deal had threatened to end in strike action but the executive committee of the Communication
Workers has accepted the Royal Mail offer and says it will put it to its
members.
The
deal includes backdated pay increases and overtime payment, as well as phrased
increases until October 2003. It will improve the basic pay of a post al worker by £20 a week to
£270.
Staff
will receive a 2.2 per cent pay increase and a 1.7 per cent in the overtime
rate backdated to 1 October 2001. A further increase in overtime will be
introduced in April this year along with 0.6 per cent increase in pay in July
and October this year.
A
further increase of 2.3 per cent in pay and 2.5 per cent overtime in overtime
rates is to be introduced in November 2002. Finally, a further 1 per cent on pay will be
introduced in April 2003.
"This
is a landmark deal. It provides for real increase in basic pay while at the
same time allowing increases to be earned for efficiency gains in sorting and
delivering mail," said Mike Linsell, managing director at the Royal Mail.
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"We
share the union’s objective to a £300 a week basic pensionable pay and will
work with the CWU to achieve this in the context of significant changes that are needed to secure
high performance."Â
