RM TO ANNOUNCE PAY FREEZE

[lovejoy]

Royal Mail will today brief all staff that there will be no pay rise this year.......

[stokes11eg]

Royal Mail will today brief all staff that there will be no pay rise this year.......

Only bonuses,for Management!!

[darth]

that is absolutely disgusting firstly royal mail come sniffing for savings then this (which will not contribute towards 50/50 savings.... i suppose).what will the cwu hq response be.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

24 April 2009
LtB 365/09 Royal Mail Announces Pay Freeze

No. 365/09
Ref: 60000
Date: 24th April 2009

TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS

Dear Colleague,

ROYAL MAIL GROUP ANNOUNCE PAY FREEZE

A letter has been received today from Jon Millidge, the Group HR Director, confirming that the Royal Mail Board has decided to enforce a pay freeze for all employees and all managers across the company. A copy of the letter is attached.

We understand that employees will be briefed this afternoon and tomorrow morning and that a letter may be sent to employees' home addresses.

The Union has told Royal Mail there is no possibility of us accepting a pay freeze. Royal Mail is using the external environment as an excuse to continue to attack our members' terms and conditions.

The Company can afford to improve our members' terms and conditions for the following reasons:

The company recently posted its best financial results for years and out performed all of its financial targets.

Royal Mail recently wrote to all employees saying the value of the company has significantly increased.

The Government has now accepted that it will take on the pension's legacy deficit. This will bring about an incredible transformation in Royal Mail's finances. Previously, Royal Mail signed into funding approximately £280 million per year, for the next 15 years. This money can now be released and reinvested into improving our members' terms and conditions.

Royal Mail has confirmed that its modernisation programme is fully funded from the previous Government loan.

The Company will achieve significant cost reductions as a result of the introduction of automation.

The Government's regulatory proposals provide the company with a great opportunity to now operate on a level playing field with its competitors and further improve its financial prospects.

The combination of a pay freeze and the growing attacks on our members' jobs, terms and conditions means that industrial conflict is inevitable unless Royal Mail change their position.

Please ensure that the content of this LtB is conveyed to all our members in their workplaces. The Union will be responding in more detail to the business and writing to all members' home addresses in the near future. We have also issued press releases today explaining our position.

Any queries regarding this LtB please contact the DGS (P) Department quoting reference number 365/09.


Yours sincerely



Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)
Dave Ward

Communication Workers Union

150 The Broadway

Wimbledon

LONDON

SW19 1RX

Room 503

148 Old Street

LONDON

EC1V 9HQ

Tel: 020 7250 2129

Fax: 020 7250 2115

jon.millidge@royalmail.com

http://www.royalmail.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dear Dave

PAY IN ROYAL MAIL GROUP
I am aware that you and your colleagues have written to the different business units with your requests for changes to pay with effect from the beginning of April. Each business unit will respond, but I thought it was appropriate for me to outline the current issues facing the whole group at this time as a result of the current worldwide economic downturn.

The global economic turmoil has exacerbated the structural decline in postal markets in the UK and around the world, with the UK mail market now declining between 8-10% compared to last year. You will be aware from our briefings to you that every 1% decline in volume reduces our income by £70m pa. This structural decline, in the face of competition from electronic communications, has accelerated significantly in recent months - a trend that is widely expected to continue.

For Post Office Ltd, the volatility in the financial services market is clearly taking its toll on our new range of financial service products whilst at the same time our traditional core products (including mail services and benefit payments) continue to decline.

The worldwide parcels market has also come under severe pressure from over capacity and the economic situation depressing volumes. These two factors have caused prices and margins to decline sharply.

Against this backdrop, despite the improved financial performance in the year just finished, the company is facing a very tight financial position and we do not envisage being able to increase pay rates for any colleagues (including all directors and managers) across the group as a result of this coming year's pay review.

Given the tough economic conditions and with the Retail Price Index currently being negative, you will undoubtedly be aware that many other companies find themselves in a similar position of having difficulty in affording increases in pay.

We will however honour commitments previously given as part of the 2007 deal in Post Office and any other specified increases already agreed.

This approach to pay will apply to all colleagues across Post Office, Parcelforce, Royal Mail and the Group Centre.

We will also honour our commitment to pay the ColleagueShare dividend and to honour agreed incentive schemes for colleagues for 2008/09 assuming that the targets have been achieved, and following the publication of our results.

I am sure that each of the business units will wish to discuss this with you but in the meantime I will invite you to a meeting with Ian Duncan and myself to discuss the current financial challenges that the group faces.

Yours sincerely

Jon Millidge

Group HR Director

[ice man]

Just got an email in work today say we are getting no pay rise this year what a joke :lfo :cfo

[banner18]

They will probably use the recession as their excuse. The thing is RM has been one of the few companies to make a profit in the last financial year so that doesn't wash with me.
Anyway no pay rise effectively means a pay cut in real terms due to the rise in prices, so why don't we all have a productivity cut this year to go with it?

[ramsay ladders]

so why don't we all have a productivity cut this year to go with it?

We have. Volumes are well down remember

[fmrPOSTIE]

Why should RM give a pay rise this yr? thankfully everyone has a secure job and pension which is alot compared to most people at present. The profit made by the RMG was not alot once you take into account the POL subsidy so its probably the right decision given that the cost of inflation &RPI is falling.

[eian687]

yet another way to keep us in poverty

[eian687]

no pay rise then we should say no to summer savings

[trythat]

We should either have a pay rise or my personal preference is to have a CUT in hours.
We've made a £220 profit so far.
As some one else said, not getting a pay rise means in effect we're taking at least a 3% pay cut, inflation, don't forget is still nearly 3%.

I also don't like the excuse that because I've got a job, I should just take any s**t RM wants to drop on me, when did having a job mean that my working conditions or pay should be trampled on, if I really thought that was good I'd move to Holland and work for TNT. Over 90% of people that had a job 2 years ago still have a job.

[oypostie]

Why should RM give a pay rise this yr? thankfully everyone has a secure job

Must have imagined the 10% budget cuts and the fact that about 1 in 5 in my office could be going. Job security. Don't think so

[celerycelery]

As we will all no doubt be seeing the letter out today stating that their will be no pay rise this year what other alternatives could we have? Thinking about it i thought maybe an increase in door 2 door payments (cant actually remember if they have ever gone up since i started in 1987) or maybe lose 30 mins on monday & tuesday as they are really light days at the moment therefore only working a 39 hour week.

[POSTMAN]

Moved to news.

[BELIAL]

24 April 2009
LtB 365/09 Royal Mail Announces Pay Freeze


Given the tough economic conditions and with the Retail Price Index currently being negative, you will undoubtedly be aware that many other companies find themselves in a similar position of having difficulty in affording increases in pay.


Yours sincerely

Jon Millidge

Group HR Director

Weasel words from another bloodsucking parasite. Typical of RM's creative approach to figures. For all the years that RPI exceeded CPI they used the consumer price index to justify their pay offers,now that CPI exceeds RPI they swap over, they really do think we are all cretins. CPI is at +2.6% ,food ,fuel,all your day to day costs are still going up. "Yours sincerely" I doubt that