Labour's Chuka Umunna refuses to condemn Royal Mail strike

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Labour's shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna refuses to condemn Royal Mail workers' strike

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Labour's Chuka Umunna has refused to condemn a strike by Royal Mail workers despite the shadow business secretary saying it was ‘bad news for everyone’ and ‘not a route I would support’.

The conflicting messages from the fast-rising MP came after the Communication Workers Union last week confirmed that postal workers would strike for the first time in nearly four years.

Members voted four to one on a turnout of 63 per cent to strike on Monday, November 4.

The CWU has said that it does not want to strike, but that it is up to Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene to reach an ‘acceptable agreement’ on pay and conditions.

The announcement was made the day after unconditional trading in Royal Mail shares began.

The soaring value of free shares given to staff means they are sitting on a windfall of more than £3,500 each – a total of almost £500million. However, staff cannot sell the shares for at least three years.

Umunna said: ‘The strike is not helpful to anyone – businesses or customers – and it’s not a route I would support. However, I would not condemn postal workers as this is not a decision that would have been taken lightly. The priority now must be for a resolution of issues around pay and working conditions before the strike is due.’

Meanwhile criticism that the Government significantly undervalued Royal Mail at huge cost to the taxpayer grows. The shares were put on sale at 330p but passed 500p on Friday closing at 502½p, valuing the group at just over £5billion, or £1.7billion more than ten days ago.

Royal Mail’s property portfolio, much of which is being sold off, was valued at £787million for the purposes of the privatisation, but critics say it is likely to be worth more than four times as much.

The row over the company’s valuation was fuelled this weekend by reports that two banks pitching to handle the privatisation told the Government in June that Royal Mail could be worth £5billion.

[UnhappyGremlin]

Chuka Umunna in conflicting messages shock.
He's been doing this all along.
His right hand and his left hand seem to be totally unaware of each other.

[daveyeff]

Chuka Umunna in conflicting messages shock.
He's been doing this all along.
His right hand and his left hand seem to be totally unaware of each other.

unless he uses both we he's relaxing in a ''gentlemans way''

[noggin1969]

conflicting messages from the fast-rising MP

He's an MP he'll play to which ever audience is listening at the time , fast rising only means he's good at it

[daveyeff]

or ''larging it up''

[Red Robbo]

He's full of sh*t, a typical Labour politician who's out to grab the CWU support to propel him into being the next leader and god help us prime minister !!

[DirtyHarry]

Typical guttersnipe politician.
Wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

[redrobber]

I bet he's never had a real job. I expect he went from uni, straight into a research job with the party and then to candidate and then to MP. Career politicians, bunch of shysters.

[silly suffolk]

I bet he's never had a real job. I expect he went from uni, straight into a research job with the party and then to candidate and then to MP. Career politicians, bunch of shysters.

I think he was a lawyer in the city before going into politics. not exactly plucked from a pit or field to forward the working mans hopes and aspirations.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I bet he's never had a real job. I expect he went from uni, straight into a research job with the party and then to candidate and then to MP. Career politicians, bunch of shysters.

I think he was a lawyer in the city before going into politics. not exactly plucked from a pit or field to forward the working mans hopes and aspirations.

Indeed Suffolk - he is not a quite in the same league as the beast of bolsover is he

Early life

Umunna was born in the UK in 1978.[2] His father Bennett, who was a Nigerian of the Igbo ethnic group, died in a road accident in Nigeria in 1992. His Irish mother, Patricia, is a solicitor and the daughter of High Court Judge Sir Helenus Milmo. Umunna was educated at Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham, South London, at the voluntary aided Christ Church Primary School in Brixton Hill, and at the independent secondary school St Dunstan's College in Catford. During this period he was also a chorister at Southwark Cathedral. He has said that his politics and moral values come from Christianity,but that he is "not majorly religious". He holds a LLB in English and French Law from the University of Manchester; after graduating he studied for one term at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, before studying for an MA at Nottingham Law School.

Career

Having completed his studies in 2002, he began as a solicitor at Herbert Smith in the City of London. In 2006 he joined Rochman Landau working in employment law.