24 September 2007
Royal Mail plans to close its final salary pension scheme to all
employees according to reports today.
It is feared that industrial action could follow from thousands
of staff, in addition to already proposed strike action by the CWU
over pay and working arrangements. In February, Royal Mail
announced the closure of the final salary pension scheme to new
employees, but the move to extend this to current members comes
just days after the postal group denied any such plans. The
organisation is expected to begin a consultation period and is to
write to employees outlining the changes to the pension scheme.
It is thought Royal Mail will say that it wants to drop the
final salary scheme in favour of pensions calculated on career
average earnings indexed to RPI.
Paul Reuter, national officer for Unite, said: "We call upon
Royal Mail to honour their commitment to preserve the past service
benefits that have been built up and paid for by our members. We
also call upon Adam Crozier [the chief executive] to honour his
commitment given in February to safeguard final salary schemes
going forward. Failure by Royal Mail to respond positively will
leave Unite with no option other than to ballot its members for
strike action." Although Unite is due to meet Royal Mail today, it
is not expected that the pension proposals will be changed.
Royal Mail has said that without dramatic reforms it will not be
able to survive in a liberalised mail market. A spokeman said that
he could not comment on proposals before staff have been
informed.
