Mail boss asks for 'common sense':Vid

[POSTMAN]

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Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier has said he hopes "common sense prevails" and this week's UK-wide strikes are called off.

Mr Crozier's comments on the BBC's Andrew Marr show come ahead of fresh talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union on Monday.

He said he hoped an outline deal will see Thursday, Friday and Saturday's strikes cancelled.

The CWU said it was "looking forward" to Monday's talks.

This week's planned strikes follow after UK-wide walkouts by Communication Workers Union (CWU) members on Thursday and Friday of last week, in an ongoing dispute over pay, conditions and modernisation.

The Royal Mail says it is continuing to deal with a backlog of 30 million items but the CWU puts the figure nearer to 65 million.

'Complete nonsense'

Mr Crozier said the key to Monday's talks would be a form of words to end the strike action, which the Royal Mail says was formulated last week - but not enforced - by a team of its representatives and CWU leaders.


STORY SO FAR...
Postal workers, especially in London, have been holding intermittent one-day strikes for months in a row over the way Royal Mail is to be modernised
Earlier this month, postal workers voted three to one in favour of nationwide industrial action (though Royal Mail said 60% of the total number of postal workers in the UK did not vote to strike)
The CWU set dates for the first nationwide postal strikes in two years
Last-gasp talks failed to reach an agreement, and two 24-hour strikes were held on Thursday and Friday of last week
Fresh talks between the two sides due to take place on Monday, with further UK-wide strikes planned for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

Origins of the Royal Mail strike
Sorrow and anger on picket line

The union has described the suggestion that the wording had been agreed as "total nonsense."

Mondays' talks are being brokered by the TUC.

In Mr Crozier's interview with the BBC, he denied accusations that he was taking a back seat in the continuing dispute.

He said he was not involved in the direct talks with the union, because his focus was instead on talking to affected customers.

He also denied that he was taking any direction from the government.

"Of course I have been keeping them [government ministers] up to date," he said.

"But it is complete nonsense to say they are pulling the strings."

Mr Crozier added that while he hoped an outline agreement would result in this week's strikes being called off, it would take "a couple of months" to agree any final deal.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said that Monday's talks between the Royal Mail and CWU are an opportunity to end the deadlock and that both sides should seize the opportunity.

'Encouraged'

Reacting to the Adam Crozier interview, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes told the BBC's The Politics Show that the union would not accept "any change by imposition".

Saying the union would not agree to any compulsory redundancies, he added: "We want change with agreement, with job security at the heart of it".

He added that if the Royal Mail was "genuinely seeking agreement" at Monday's talks, "I'm sure we can move forward".

If this week's strikes to go ahead, they are due to involve:

• Thursday - 43,700 staff in mail centres, delivery units in mail centres, network logistic drivers and garage staff walking out from 0400 GMT

• Friday - 400 workers at three sites in Plymouth, Stockport and Stoke, who assist mail centres by reading and entering mail addresses

• Saturday - 77,000 delivery and collection staff across the UK.

Falling post levels

The Royal Mail, which has shed 63,000 frontline postal staff in recent years, says it needs to further cut jobs as part of continuing modernisation plans.

HAVE YOUR SAY

A union should rightfully look after the interests of its members, but if the business ceases trading, then there will be no jobs to 'protect'

Paul Gowers, Guildford
Send us your comments

It says it needs to streamline its business because the number of letters and parcels its core business delivers is falling 10% each year.

The CWU agrees that job cuts are necessary, but where the two sides disagree is over their extent, and the future pay and working conditions of the workers that remain.

In 2008, the Royal Mail Group went into the black for the first time in 20 years, and profit at the main letters and packages unit was £58m from a turnover of £6.7bn.

Royal Mail says this margin is very small considering the size of the turnover. The group also has a £6.8bn pensions deficit.

[kingtubby]

Mr Crozier added...it would take "a couple of months" to agree any final deal.

Just enough time to see them through until January then...

[left739]

'It is not a question of giving the union things... there is no going back... shut up '

It is obvious that Crozier is no where near where we need him to be. We need to keep the pressure on till he and the government are ready to give ground and its only striking that will do this. Billy, Dave and the PEC need to understand this.

[dvbuk55]

'It is not a question of giving the union things... there is no going back... shut up '

It is obvious that Crozier is no where near where we need him to be. We need to keep the pressure on till he and the government are ready to give ground and its only striking that will do this. Billy, Dave and the PEC need to understand this.

Absolutely agree 100%. We have embarked on industrial action and until such time as we are satisfied that the deal is done and is as cast iron as is feasibly possible - like Crozier says, "there's no going back".

[steven100]

"Common sense" to calling off strikes. What about managers bullying to take out extreme workloads. Union should tell him to take a hike.

[shadow]

The country would go mental if the government allowed RM to go down the pan. Who would deliver their letters because there is no other company set up to do it.

[wingmanchillian]

i like the way he stumbled when asked if he would be looking to head the royal mail when we are privatised (i say when as i think we all know its only a matter of time. labour wont help us and the conservatives have already said that's what will happen). clearly if your on the shop floor its obvious this company is being run into the ground. none of the changes taking place consider the customer or the service at all.

downsizing might make your profits look good on paper but as quality of service diminishes you'll loose business anyway. im a grafter, always have been, i've had 3 jobs pretty much consistently from when i was 17. due to family circumstance i was out of work for a year before joining the royal mail. its the only job i have now and with no exaggeration i can say the work loads and treatment by management is killing me physically and mentally . my point is with this downsizing you'll get part time and agency staff that A, wont do this work in all weathers for the pay they are offered and B,you'll get a huge rise in mail going missing, being dumped etc.. i base my 2 points on personal experience as i watch it happen every year when we take on for xmas pressure. now im not saying all temp staff are useless as you'll always find the odd gem in there but the majority dont care about the service they provide they just want their money. with the part time staff they are moved about so much never knowing what they will be on from one day to the next they'll find it harder to build that relationship with the customers we see and deal with on a daily basis.

and as far as only having 1 person out of 63000 take redundancy id like to know how many left because they were bullied/forced out of the job.

dreading work tomorrow.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

and as far as only having 1 person out of 63000 take redundancy id like to know how many left because they were bullied/forced out of the job.

dreading work tomorrow.

Well there has been an upsurge in Medical retirements in the last few years, probably a coincidence though.

[dvbuk55]

and as far as only having 1 person out of 63000 take redundancy id like to know how many left because they were bullied/forced out of the job.

dreading work tomorrow.

Well there has been an upsurge in Medical retirements in the last few years, probably a coincidence though.

And sackings - only 1 man has been repreived in the recent spate of sackings - and I am talking about 6/7 or so