Royal Mail agree wages deal with unions to avoid crippling year of postal strikes

A YEAR of postal strikes looked to be over yesterday after Royal Mail agreed a deal with union bosses.

It includes a posties’ wage increase of ten per cent over three years and a one-off £500 payment.

In what the Communication Workers Union called a “groundbreaking” deal, the firm will also give workers 20 per cent of operating profits from the next year it is in the black.

There will also be no mandatory redundancies.

CWU leaders have agreed to the deal, which will be put to members for a vote.

Royal Mail had been at war with the union over plans to modernise and adapt to cater for the rise in next-day deliveries and online shopping parcels.

The company said that 18 strike days in the past year had lost it £200million.

As part of the deal, the union has agreed to later starting times, which will allow more next-day deliveries to be processed, and longer hours during the Christmas season.

Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services, said: “This deal represents a good outcome for customers, employees and shareholders.”

Royal Mail had warned that further strike action could result in the postal service going into administration — and a likely break-up of the business.

Network-ing

A BIDDING war has broken out for FTSE 250 payments company Network International.

Canadian asset manager Brookfield has offered £2.1billion, topping a bid by private equity firm CVC.

Meanwhile another private equity firm, Cap10, has bid £214m for support services group Sureserve.

Slow march

A WET March dampened shoppers’ enthusiasm, with a 0.9 per cent slip in retail sales.

Department stores and clothes shops fared the worst, but veg shortages also sent food store sales down by 0.7 per cent.

Over a quarter of shoppers experienced shortages of food items, said the Office for National Statistics.