Wolverhampton Royal Mail staff in wages blunder get vouchers

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Temporary Royal Mail staff are to be given vouchers to exchange for cash after a blunder saw them go without pay for more than a fortnight.

Hundreds of staff were recruited to handle the Christmas post at the North West Midlands Mail Centre in Sun Street, Wolverhampton, but many have not been paid since November 29.

The mail centre handles all the post for the Black Country and Staffordshire and has been processing up to 180,000 parcels a night in the run-up to Christmas.

Around 400 temporary workers have been recruited.

One worker said 178 people were in a meeting yesterday and were promised the vouchers to swap for cash at a branch of the Post Office.

But she said: “They promised to send us a text message as soon as they have them, but then we have to go back and get them. There’s still no guarantee we will be paid.”

Staff had threatened to walk out and at least six left their posts early on Wednesday.

Now bosses have promised that if they could not be paid directly into their bank accounts last night, they would have a voucher to take to a Post Office to collect their wages in cash

However some say they still did not get the money when they finished shifts yesterday.

Royal Mail this year set up an in-house company called Angard to manage temporary recruitment. Staff have blamed this new arrangement for the problem.

Royal Mail spokesman Heulyn Gwyn Davies, said: “Difficulties with the payroll system have meant that some temporary workers have not been paid on time or by the correct amount. We apologise for this as our temporary Christmas staff are very important to us.

“The vast majority of our Christmas temporary recruits are being paid as usual into their bank accounts today. Where this is not possible, we are making huge efforts to put in place an additional payment channel.

“This involves staff receiving a barcoded letter which can then be redeemed for the relevant amount of cash at any Post Office branch.

“We apologise again for any inconvenience this may cause.”

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