Post chief lashes out ahead of peace talks

[Stormproof]

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Post chief lashes out ahead of peace talks

By Alex Barker, Political Correspondent

Published: October 25 2009 20:10 | Last updated: October 25 2009 20:10

The head of Royal Mail told union leaders on Sunday to “shut up” and return to work, amid a bitter exchange of words on the eve of last-ditch talks to avert a new wave of strikes.

Adam Crozier, chief executive of Royal Mail, said he hoped “common sense would prevail” at Monday’s meeting to resolve the dispute over pay, conditions and modernisation.

The Communication Workers Union said Mr Crozier’s comments showed he was “in denial” and unable to recognise that “his workforce is deeply disgruntled”.

In spite of the acrimony, both sides expressed optimism that an interim agreement to end the strike action would emerge from the talks mediated by the Trades Union Congress.

A three-day nationwide walkout is planned to start on Thursday, following the two 24-hour strikes at the end of last week.

Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said the talks were a “good start”, but that he expected significant concessions from management.

“If Royal Mail . . . simply reiterate their previous position, that won’t help things,” he told the BBC’s Politics Show. “If they come there genuinely seeking agreement, I’m sure we can go forward.”

Mr Crozier and Mr Hayes will not attend the talks on Monday, leaving negotiations to their deputies.

Royal Mail managers want the union to back a form of words which they claim CWU leaders helped to formulate, but then rejected.

Mr Crozier said: “Clearly, the objective for us is to get back to the agreement we pretty much had on Tuesday night, so that hopefully the strike can be called off and we can then get into proper talks, which in fact will then take a couple of months.”

He added that unions needed to stop making “exaggerated claims about backlogs” and attempting to drag the government into the row. “I think people would be better placed to, in the nicest possible way, shut up, get on with these tasks, and get back to an agreement,” he said.

Lord Mandelson, business secretary, dismissed claims that he was orchestrating Royal Mail’s handling of the dispute, saying it would have required “some means of telepathy”.

Ken Clarke, the shadow business secretary, said the “impenetrable” dispute “sounds like a third-rate replay of newsreels from the 1970s”. He warned that the strikes could be “terminal” for the Royal Mail.

London business groups estimate the industrial action has cost companies more than £500m since the start of the summer.

Colin Stanbridge, chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, called on Lord Mandelson to intervene and “personally broker a deal”.

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[Rizla]

Lord "Meddle-Some" also said, in that interview, that he had NOT been in contact with Adam Crozier...However, in another interview, Adam Crozier said that he had been in constant, but "not daily conact" with Lord Mendleson. SO, WHO IS TELLING LIES????

[bandit1157]

Lord "Meddle-Some" also said, in that interview, that he had NOT been in contact with Adam Crozier...However, in another interview, Adam Crozier said that he had been in constant, but "not daily conact" with Lord Mendleson. SO, WHO IS TELLING LIES????

i wonder which body parts have been in constant contact here.

[clashcityrocker]

Lord "Meddle-Some" also said, in that interview, that he had NOT been in contact with Adam Crozier...However, in another interview, Adam Crozier said that he had been in constant, but "not daily conact" with Lord Mendleson. SO, WHO IS TELLING LIES????

Both of them as usual.

[barbario]

If i were on 83,000 pounds a month like Crozier,i would happily shut up and get back to work.