The Republican Socialist Platform is proud to have donated £200 to the Communication Workers Union’s hardship fund for striking Royal Mail workers.
Postal workers are being asked to accept a real-terms pay cut amid a cost of living crisis, while Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson pockets over £750,000 per year.
As Dumfries & Galloway Trades Union Council explains:
In his latest “open letter to customers”, Simon Thompson, CEO of Royal Mail, plc mentions an offer “of up to 9% over 18 months” but is silent about the contract changes he has demanded.
Management wants to reduce deliveries and change hours to match the poor conditions which are inflicted on mainly non-union workers in rival parcel carrier firms.
He also claims that, prior to the strikes, Royal Mail was losing £1 million per day.
That claim and the need for “modernisation” don’t hold water when you look at the Royal Mail Group profits for 2021-22 of £758 million (and £702 million for the previous year).
The declared current share price is £4.28 (March 2022). In 2019 it was £2.06 per share (an increase of 107% over 3 years).
Earnings per share were 60p last year alone and rich shareholders got a dividend of 20p per share (of which there are nearly 10 million).
The 3 executive directors were paid as follows:
£435K with incentives taking that up to £1,389,000
£613K with incentives taking that up to £1,669,000
£544K with incentives taking that up to £753,000
Contrast that with a full-time postie starting out on a basic 35 hour week at £11.59 per hour. That gives a gross annual wage of £21,094.
CWU members in Royal Mail are standing firm for a cost of living no-strings pay deal.
Please consider making your own donation to the hardship fund. You can make donations via PayPal by clicking here. For more information about the dispute, see the CWU website.