Pay slips at Royal Mail
23 October 2012
Union officials will meet with Royal Mail executives later this month to discuss payroll problems that left some of the postal service’s seasonal workers without pay in the run-up to Christmas.
January 2012Union officials will meet with Royal Mail executives later this month to discuss payroll problems that left some of the postal service’s seasonal workers without pay in the run-up to Christmas.
At press deadlines, Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary Dave Ward told Recruiter: “We understand people are still having problems getting the money they’re owed, with many receiving cheques for 1p last week [the week commencing 3 January].”
It was still unclear how many seasonal workers across the country, who were recruited by and paid through Angard Staffing, experienced pay problems. Angard Staffing is Royal Mail’s inhouse staffing arm outsourced to Reed Specialist Recruitment.CWU officials told Recruiter that the union had received “many, many complaints from various parts of the country”.
Complainants speaking to Recruiter often praised Royal Mail managers for trying to help during the crisis but commented that the managers had no authority over the Angard-Reed partnership.
A Royal Mail statement released to Recruiter said: “We have been very open with our temporary employees and communicated with them on a regular basis.” The statement went on to say that Royal Mail managing director Mark Higson thanked the workers for their work and apologised in a letter sent after Christmas for the “delays and difficulties” with pay experienced by some. “We acknowledge there are lessons to be learnt and we are in the process of doing that,” the statement said.
“Royal Mail continues to work with a number of external suppliers including Reed.”
A spokesperson from Reed said: “We …would like to apologise to those who have had queries with their pay and reassure them that we take this very seriously… Our teams are currently handling the final payment queries.”
Ward said: “The ‘Angard episode’ has clearly not been a success… Going forward we’ve got a meeting scheduled with Royal Mail director of employment and industrial relations Peter Wall on this issue… we’ll be emphasising that the right lessons must be learnt from this rather chaotic experience.”
Workers unhappy about their treatment by Angard predicted consequences for Royal Mail’s ability to attract temporary staff in the future. One worker, Gary, who wished his surname to remain anonymous, told Recruiter that the only thing that would persuade him to work at Royal Mail next year would be if it employed workers directly and did not use Angard: “I don’t think any of those I worked with will be prepared to work for Angard.”
COLIN COTTELL AND DEEDEE DOKE
At press deadlines, Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary Dave Ward told Recruiter: “We understand people are still having problems getting the money they’re owed, with many receiving cheques for 1p last week [the week commencing 3 January].”
It was still unclear how many seasonal workers across the country, who were recruited by and paid through Angard Staffing, experienced pay problems. Angard Staffing is Royal Mail’s inhouse staffing arm outsourced to Reed Specialist Recruitment.CWU officials told Recruiter that the union had received “many, many complaints from various parts of the country”.
Complainants speaking to Recruiter often praised Royal Mail managers for trying to help during the crisis but commented that the managers had no authority over the Angard-Reed partnership.
A Royal Mail statement released to Recruiter said: “We have been very open with our temporary employees and communicated with them on a regular basis.” The statement went on to say that Royal Mail managing director Mark Higson thanked the workers for their work and apologised in a letter sent after Christmas for the “delays and difficulties” with pay experienced by some. “We acknowledge there are lessons to be learnt and we are in the process of doing that,” the statement said.
“Royal Mail continues to work with a number of external suppliers including Reed.”
A spokesperson from Reed said: “We …would like to apologise to those who have had queries with their pay and reassure them that we take this very seriously… Our teams are currently handling the final payment queries.”
Ward said: “The ‘Angard episode’ has clearly not been a success… Going forward we’ve got a meeting scheduled with Royal Mail director of employment and industrial relations Peter Wall on this issue… we’ll be emphasising that the right lessons must be learnt from this rather chaotic experience.”
Workers unhappy about their treatment by Angard predicted consequences for Royal Mail’s ability to attract temporary staff in the future. One worker, Gary, who wished his surname to remain anonymous, told Recruiter that the only thing that would persuade him to work at Royal Mail next year would be if it employed workers directly and did not use Angard: “I don’t think any of those I worked with will be prepared to work for Angard.”
COLIN COTTELL AND DEEDEE DOKE
