Photo

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Berlusconi's women

A look at the women linked to former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.  Slideshow 

Photo

Harvesting tobacco

With the increasing health concerns with smoking in the U.S., traditional tobacco farmers sell their crop to growing markets outside the country.  Slideshow 

Sponsored Links

Trade union backs strike action at UK's Royal Mail before float

Related Topics

LONDON | Thu Aug 1, 2013 7:43am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Trade union representatives at Britain's Royal Mail postal service voted unanimously in favor of holding a strike ballot, just months before a planned privatization they strongly oppose.

Staff will hold a strike vote by the end of September unless a new pay deal with Royal Mail can be struck before then, around 500 representatives from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) decided on Thursday, in a vote that could complicate privatization plans.

"CWU is committed to holding serious negotiations with Royal Mail to achieve settlement on these issues, but efforts to date do not bode well," said Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the CWU.

Britain has said it wants to begin the privatization of the 497 year-old state-owned service by floating a majority stake on the London Stock Exchange this financial year. Workers will be given 10 percent of the company in free shares.

The CWU, which represents most of the firm's 150,000 staff, says the sell-off is unnecessary and fears pay and working conditions will be compromised under private ownership. The union rejected a three-year pay offer from Royal Mail in July.

Royal Mail said it was disappointed that the CWU was planning a strike ballot, adding that negotiations were ongoing and that it considered disruptions to the postal service unhelpful.

(Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Elaine Hardcastle)

 
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.