Post strike threat

A new round of postal strikes is set to bring London's mail to a standstill.

Union officials have threatened walkouts over a new deal which offers postmen pay increases in return for reforms.

Among their complaints is the "abysmal" offer of a £2-a-week rise in London weighting.

But now leaders of the Communication Workers Union have been angered by a letter from Royal Mail's new chairman, Allan Leighton.

Mr Leighton, who has described negotiating with the CWU as like "wading through treacle", infuriated the union leaders by going over their heads and appealing directly to workers in a letter offering a pay rise over 18 months.

Leaders of the CWU are expected to veto the offer, which would give the lowest-paid £38 a week more. They say it comes with "more strings than the philharmonic orchestra."

Norman Candy, a London divisional representative who is on the union's national postal executive, said a strike across London seemed inevitable. A ballot is expected in the next few weeks.

Another member of the CWU leadership, former London official Dave Ward, last month called for all threats of action to be followed by strikes. The CWU in London is, like other unions such as Unison, calling for a big rise in payments to compensate for the high cost of living in the capital.

They want the allowance for postal workers in outer London to rise from £1,900 to £4,000. Royal Mail has offered £100 extra this year and £200 more if productivity targets are met.

Relations between Royal Mail and the unions have become increasingly strained.

Mr Leighton feels he is not getting the reforms he has demanded to stop Royal Mail haemorrhaging £750,000 a day.

His frustration prompted him to write to the postal workers themselves, using a tactic he employed successfully last year to criticise the leadership's negotiations.

In the latest letter, he writes: "I got into trouble last time for talking to you direct, telling it straight. Well, tough, that's how we do things around here now."

As part of the pay package, which starts in October with a three per cent rise across the board, each local office will have its own target.

This must be achieved before workers can win £15 of the £38 per week total potential pay increase. A further £11.30 will follow if all offices across the country reach their targets.