Latest on bbc site....

[swoosta]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7050758.stm

Talks between postal union leaders and Royal Mail have been adjourned again, as an ongoing dispute over pay and working conditions remains unresolved.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Royal Mail will meet on Friday to continue talks that have been going on since the start of the week.

A proposed deal would include a 6.9% pay rise over two years.

But the union wants more detail before opting whether to recommend the offer to its members before seeking a ballot.

Modernisation

Royal Mail said it had agreed to meet the CWU to clarify outstanding issues, but it added that "the agreement reached and endorsed last Friday by CWU general secretary Billy Hayes and deputy general secretary Dave Ward stands."

It is unclear if resolution is any nearer.

Earlier in the day, workers in Liverpool ended wildcat strikes.

Staff refused to work in a row over shift patterns - the union had not sanctioned the strike after it called off nationwide action.

Postal workers in Liverpool started their unofficial strike on Wednesday last week - hitting 21 sorting offices across Merseyside.

Last week's outline agreement followed lengthy talks between the Royal Mail and the CWU.

If the deal is recommended by the union, a ballot of the CWU's 130,000 Royal Mail members would then be called, with a majority needed to approve it.

In addition to the 6.9% pay offer, the BBC understands that workers would be given a lump sum payment of £175.

The deal would also see consultation on ending the Royal Mail's current final salary pension scheme.

The CWU has previously said that the Royal Mail's modernisation plans would cost 40,000 jobs.

[Macca]

Royal Mail said it had agreed to meet the CWU to clarify outstanding issues, but it added that "the agreement reached and endorsed last Friday by CWU general secretary Billy Hayes and deputy general secretary Dave Ward stands."

I've been in negotiations with management at a local level before and once you've agreed to something, its not always set in stone, coz u then take it to the membership who may well put in amendments to it, and if passed no agreement starts until those amendments have been acheived, if royal mail senior management think otherwise well then f**k 'em, and lets start the rolling strikes now, thats how our democratic union rules work!!!


:cfo :lfo