Postal workers have today (Tuesday) overwhelmingly rejected Royal Mail’s pension changes in a CWU consultative ballot of 140,000 members.
The full result is as follows:-
Pension Consultative Ballot Results
| Ballot Papers Issued: |
140,800 |
|
| Ballot Papers Returned: |
86,230 |
|
| In support of Rejection: |
79,387 |
(92%) |
| Against Rejection: |
6,763 |
|
| Spoilt: |
80 |
(8%) |
| Overall Return: |
|
(61%) |
Dave Ward, deputy general secretary, said: “The result of this ballot clearly demonstrates that Royal Mail’s pension consultation was a sham.
“We’re now calling on Royal Mail to stop acting in undue haste and to discuss with the CWU how to solve the pension problem facing the company. After the last year of unrest Royal Mail needs to take the workforce along with them in this major change to postal workers’ terms and conditions.
“With such overwhelming opposition to their plans, if Royal Mail can’t find an acceptable solution with the CWU, industrial action will be inevitable.”
The CWU ballot result follows Royal Mail managers’ rejection of the pension changes two weeks ago.
With Royal Mail managers represented by Unite, the two unions are discussing a joint approach to industrial action, should Royal Mail refuse to enter into meaningful discussions.
In conjunction with the ballot result the Postal Executive have taken decisions to step up our industrial and political campaigns as follows.
We have agreed to ballot our members for industrial action. However, before setting a timetable, we will give Royal Mail a final opportunity to reach an acceptable resolution. The Postal Executive has also agreed to explore with UNITE (Royal Mail managers Union) areas of common interest to move the pension debate forward.
We have agreed that our immediate priority is to intensify the political campaign. Within the next week we will be writing to all MP’s, MEP’s and members of the House of Lords setting out the Union’s position and why we believe government policies must be challenged. Similar communications will also be sent to devolved government bodies.
In the same timeframe we will commence the campaign in local constituencies.
The Union’s Political Campaign Committee will meet on the 7th April to consider any further steps necessary to intensify our political activities
Notes to editors:
- 92 per cent of respondents voted to reject Royal Mail’s pension changes
