You are here: News / Royal Mail loses Amazon contract
Royal Mail loses Amazon contract
Archived article dated Wednesday June 20th 2007
The Royal Mail has lost a contract worth £8 million a year to deliver goods for online trader Amazon.
The announcement of the loss of a contract to deliver second class post for Amazon came ahead of crucial talks aimed at averting a national strike by postal workers in a dispute over pay and modernisation.
Officials from the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union will meet at the offices of the conciliation service Acas tomorrow, although hopes of heading off a strike are not high.Union leaders are due to meet on Thursday to review any progress in the talks and are expected to call the first national walkout in over a decade.The Royal Mail has lost business with the Department for Work and Pensions, Centrica, BT and several banks in the past year.
The group said it was pleased the union had accepted its invitation to meet at Acas, but a spokesman stressed there was no extra money to improve a pay offer of 2.5%, which has been rejected by workers.
The CWU has made clear it will not discuss Royal Mail's previous offer and wanted the modernisation plans to be changed after claiming they would lead to 40,000 job losses.
Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "The union remains committed to negotiations. I urge Royal Mail to begin fresh talks.
"If the business is unwilling to renegotiate and change their position, we will have no alternative but to continue with plans for national strike action."
Tagged as: royal mail
Share this article:
Should your colleagues be reading the Retail Bulletin?
Let them know about us.
