25th Jul 2014 05:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Trade unionists have called for Royal Mail PLC to take legal action if its mandate to deliver to remote UK homes comes under threat, reported The Guardian late Thursday.
The newspaper said Members of the Communication Workers Union voiced fears about competition from rival carrier TNT at Royal Mail's first annual shareholder meeting in Birmingham Thursday.
A group of CWU representatives in London, where competition with TNT is most fierce, is now pushing for a judicial review if Ofcom decides not to bring forward its investigation, according to the Guardian. "As Ofcom do not appear to be listening to the company, is there any prospect of the company calling for a judicial review over the impact of the direct delivery competition?" Ian Murphy, the CMU's regional secretary for London asked during shareholder questions.
The chairman did not rule out taking action if Ofcom boss Ed Richards failed to, said The Guradian. "It's important that there is a review of practices in the market as quickly as possible," Brydon said. "I think we need to find out how Ofcom will proceed before we can conclude as to whether we will take further steps at a later point, but you can believe that a huge amount of our energy is being put into the argument ? and the need to preserve the universal service is absolutely front of mind and one of the major actions in the company at this time."
Royal Mail has a requirement to maintain postal delivery services across the UK. Rivals in the deregulated market, like TNT, can't build a full-scale distribution network because the cost would be prohibitive, and so Royal Mail charges them to deliver the mail, which is delivered partially sorted to Royal Mail centres.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/24/royal-mail-legal-action-universal-delivery-mandate-union
By Alice Attwood; [email protected]; @AliceAtAlliance
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RMG.L