POL: COLLEAGUESHARES PAYMENT 28/05/2010

I am pleased to advise members that the ColleagueShares dividend payment of £400 (pro-rata for part-timers) will be paid with May salaries. This payment will be made to all members within Crown Offices, Supply Chain (including Swindon Stores) and central support teams and is specifically in relation to the good performance during the 2009/10 financial year.

The following Joint Statement from POL, CWU and CMA Unite confirms these arrangements.

“Statement on ColleagueShares 2009/10 dividend payment

We are delighted to confirm that the Royal Mail Group ColleagueShares scheme dividend of £400 for 2009/10 performance has been paid to all qualifying employees in Crown Offices, Supply Chain and central support teams. The payment is pro-rata for part-time colleagues.

The payment reflects the overall performance of Post Office Ltd for the year 2009/10 and is in addition to any local bonus schemes that are in place. Thank you for your hard work and contribution to achieving our targets in a challenging year. Your efforts have helped to make this payment possible.”

Debbie Moore Andy Furey Brian Scott

HR Director Assistant Secretary Assistant National Secretary

Post Office Ltd CWU CMA Unite”

All enquiries on the above should be addressed to Claire Bowers on cbowers@cwu.org or 020 8971 7361.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS

POL – PAY NEGOTIATIONS: 1 ST APRIL 2010

Further to LTB 373, published 29 th April, I am now able to advise Branches that over the last two weeks, a number of meetings have been held with POL regarding our claim for a cost of living pay increase for all CWU represented grades.

I need to be absolutely clear, that all CWU grades within POL are covered by this negotiation.

CROWN OFFICES AND ADMIN

I have to report that negotiations have effectively broken down as POL is refusing to make a formal pay offer. POL's position, which has been emphatically rejected, is that there is no need to increase basic pensionable pay for both our Crown Office and Admin grades.

In essence, this is a zero pay offer which is due to their belief that our Crown Office and Admin members are overpaid and should, consequently, have their pay frozen for at least the 2010/2011 financial year.

Obviously, POL's stance is completely unacceptable as it fails to recognise the increased cost of living that we all face and the significant and crucial contribution made by members in the last year.

POL's attitude towards our Admin and Crown members has been rejected as being unreasonable against the backdrop of rising inflation, with the Retail Price Index (RPI) currently standing at 5.3%. POL's position adds insult to injury for our Admin grades (including Farnworth) that were subjected to a pay freeze last year.

SUPPLY CHAIN

A small degree of progress has been made in relation to the original “closed offer” for our Supply Chain members. A further meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday 21 st May. However, unless POL is willing to significantly improve the pay offer, I anticipate we will also face a break-down in this area.

NEXT STEPS

Clearly, this is a very serious situation and one that the Union is unable to tolerate, especially as POL has only today announced a £72m operating profit for the financial year ended March 2010, up from £41m the previous year (an increase of 76%).

In view of the prevailing situation, I will be formally requesting an urgent meeting with Dave Smith, the new Managing Director, to impress upon him our requirement for reaching a satisfactory pay settlement for our members.

In the absence of any meaningful improvement to the position reported in this LTB, I suspect that conflict is inevitable. I genuinely hope that POL reviews its position and, in doing so, significantly improves the offer for all grades.

Following tomorrow's meeting, my negotiating team and I will, at the earliest opportunity, be updating the Postal Executive, where we will consider the best course of action in order to move this issue forward.

Please ensure that this LTB is brought to the urgent attention of all members working within POL.

Further developments will be reported.

All enquiries on the above should be addressed to Claire Bowers on cbowers@cwu.org or 020 8971 7361.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary