CWU to ballot RM staff on strike action to defend service

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Postal workers union to ballot Royal Mail staff on strike action to defend service

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Union leaders say up to 26 million items could go undelivered every day if a ban on handling letters from rival operators goes ahead

Households risk being hit by postal chaos with the threat of a boycott by Royal Mail staff.

Union leaders say up to 26 million items could go undelivered every day if a ban on handling letters from rival operators goes ahead.

Some Royal Mail workers are furious that firms such as TNT and UK Mail can “cherry pick” lucrative contracts with big firms to collect and sort their post in bulk.

These companies then hand it on to Royal Mail to deliver to homes across the country.

The Communication Workers Union fears that Royal Mail will suffer serious long-term damage if rivals go one step further and set up their own door-to-door deliveries.

If that happens, the union claims it will hammer jobs and put the universal service – the pledge to deliver to every address in the country for the same price – in danger, especially in ­countryside areas.

Members at the CWU annual conference yesterday voted unanimously for a full ballot of Royal Mail workers.

A mass ban would prove a blow to the Government as it gears up for the possible privatisation of the postal giant later this year.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “We’re balloting our members to back our position to protect the universal service, oppose privatisation and expose the damage that cherry-picking and unfair ­competition will do to postal services if it is left unchanged.

“Privatisation is definitely not the answer to the challenges facing Royal Mail.”

The ballot of 120,000 members will open on May 22 and close on June 18, with the result known the next day.

Royal Mail said that it was “fully committed to the delivery of mail” collected by other companies but then delivered by it.

A spokesman added: “All of our customers’ mail is important to us – it needs to be delivered.”

It added that this service had gone from being loss-making to posting an £80m profit in 2011/12.