Royal Mail engineers to take industrial action
25th May 2011
For immediate release
Royal Mail engineers to take industrial action
More than 550 engineers working for Romec, the company which maintains Royal Mail, Tesco and other buildings - will take part in industrial action this weekend in a dispute over misuse of tracking technology.
Starting at 4pm this Friday, engineers will not respond to any call-out or emergency work outside of normal paid hours, finishing on Wednesday evening, following a 95 per cent yes vote.
Ray Ellis, CWU national official, said: "Experienced engineers with good service records are being victimised through a misuse of tracking technology. The company is abusing a raft of procedures in the pursuit of cost savings and in the attempt to reduce headcount without following legal redundancy arrangements.
"We believe Romec is breaking data protection laws and using tracker information to harass and victimise engineers. Managers are trawling data for tiny indiscrepancies dating back over eight months or more and then vigorously and unreasonably interrogating staff, and in some cases disciplining and even sacking them.
"Letters which have been sent direct to Romec engineers this week - attempting to bribe them to leave and forego their employment rights - have raised the stakes. Engineers are angry and prepared to take further industrial action unless the company enters into meaningful talks with CWU to resolve these issues."
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, added: "We understand that Romec is under great pressure to reduce its cost to Royal Mail by over £10million this year, but that doesn't exempt the company from good employment practise or legal obligations on redundancies and harassment. Our message to Royal Mail is - you might be able to outsource Romec, but you can't outsource the CWU."
Romec is an engineering and facilities company owned 51 per cent by Royal Mail and 49 per cent by Balfour Beatty. Their contracts include Royal Mail delivery offices and mail centres, Tesco and Sainsbury's supermarkets and the British Museum.
Ballot result:
Turnout: 75%
Yes for industrial action short of strike: 95%
Yes to strike action: 92%
Call-out ban action:
Starts 4pm Friday 27th May
Ends: 6pm Wednesday 1st June
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For more information please contact:
Sian Jones, Press Officer, m: 07793 314249, e:sbjones@cwu.org
Kevin Slocombe, Head of Communications, m: 07714 504413, e: kslocombe@cwu.org
