News

The European Commission approved last week UK proposals to provide the Royal Mail Pension Plan with more than £1 billion in State Aid and to transfer the plan's liabilities and assets to the state. The plan was running with a £8.4 billion deficit, which the Commission determined was an undue burden on Royal Mail Group in an open market environment.

CWU General Secretary and UNI Post & Logistics World President Billy Hayes lauded the Commission's finding, saying from Brussels, "Today's announcement will protect the pensions of postal workers who have faithfully paid contributions for decades. We've consistently argued that the government has a moral obligation to take on the pension deficit, partly as owner of the company and for allowing Royal Mail to take a 13 year contributions holiday."



Dave Ward, CWU Deputy General Secretary added, "Today's announcement is good news for postal workers. Without these changes the Royal Mail Pension Plan would be under major threat of closure and continue to destabilise the company's finances. The changes will help transform the finances of the company and protect jobs."



While CWU has long campaigned that the pension changes take place, its opposition to privatisation of Royal Mail remains steadfast. "We remain strongly opposed to privatisation. Nationalising the debt and privatising the profit doesn't make sense. It's not in the interests of customers, workers or the taxpayer. Royal Mail is now £8.4bn better off and the case for privatisation weaker still," Hayes said.



For a full report from CWU, see their news page here: http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/-good-news-for-royal-mail-pensions-says-cwu.html