CWU hit back as Royal Mail boss set to bag £5m from sale

The boss of Royal Mail’s parent company looks set to make £5m off the back of the sale of the company to a Czech billionaire – despite the postal service’s disastrous record since the Tories allowed it to be privatised. The CWU has obviously hit back – while concerns about the deal continue to mount.

Royal Mail: another day, another calamity

In May, Royal Mail accepted a takeover proposal from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky worth £3.6bn. It came after Kretinsky’s conglomerate EP Group formalised an improved offer to parent company International Distribution Services (IDS).

“The IDS board believes that the offer from EP is fair and reasonable,” IDS chairman Keith Williams said in a statement posted on the London Stock Exchange.

EP already has a stake of 27.6% in IDS. At the time, it described IDS as “a strong business with solid foundations and the potential to become one of the leading postal logistics groups in Europe”, subject to modernisation that includes USO reform.

At the same time, Kretinsky said his group “has the utmost respect for Royal Mail’s history and tradition”. He noted that owning a business with more than 500 years of history:

will come with enormous responsibility – not just to the employees but to the citizens who rely on its services every day.

EP said it would honour a commitment by IDS management not to impose compulsory redundancies at Royal Mail until April next year. It also said it was “exploring” the option of some sort of worker share agreement – giving staff a stake in the business.

However, it’s now come to light that IDS boss Martin Seidenberg will be getting a healthy payout from the deal.

Fat cat bosses creaming off Royal Mail

As This Is Money reported, Seidenberg could get over £5m from the sale due to his shares in Royal Mail. It noted that:

The figures were revealed in a formal offer document as IDS and billionaire Daniel Kretinsky push ahead with a controversial £3.6billion takeover.

The filings also showed that bankers, lawyers and other advisers will take home £146million in fees for working on the deal.

All this comes on top of the millions that IDS has paid its bosses over recent years – despite Royal Mail’s catastrophic performance. Again, as This Is Money reported:

Five successive chief executives shared £15.2m between the delivery group’s privatisation in 2013 and the end of its latest financial year in March 2024, according to analysis by this newspaper.

Think tank the High Pay Centre has condemned the figures. It said:

Given the service the public have received from Royal Mail, most people would be outraged to hear of these huge sums being paid out to failing bosses.

CWU: it’s not over yet

Understandably, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has hit back. It told the Guardian:

We’re looking for a serious stake in the company but also a serious voice in the running of the company.

We’re not interested in profit payouts that are at the mercy of a board – we want workers’ influence at all levels. Not just the main board, but the remuneration committee, the recruitment committees – to make sure we don’t recruit people who don’t have the interest of postal workers at heart.

Where Royal Mail will head next is unclear. But what it clear is that already, bosses are milking the company for all it’s worth – just as they always have.

Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse

Featured image via the Canary