The
Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, has
written to Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton calling for ‘straight talking’
about his role in a rumoured ‘privatisation’ plan for Royal Mail.
Royal
Mail is considering a plan to sell part of its postal business to its own
employees amid fears of a government push to privatise the industry.
Leighton
is also planning to borrow money from banks in an attempt to inject billions of
pounds in private funds into the postal service. Part of this money will go
towards a rise in basic pay rate from £300 to £400 a week for delivery and
sorting staff.
Ward
said: “We have suspected for some time that senior government officials and
Royal Mail business leaders have engaged in a plan to carve up the business.
This probably explains why there has been 100 per cent focus on financial
recovery and zero per cent focus on quality of service.”
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The
CWU has warned that it would not allow Labour to get to the election without
assurances that Royal Mail would remain a public service.
