Post Office managers to be put up in £200-a-night hotel to combat strike
A LEADING union official has claimed strike-busting Post Office managers are being billeted in four-star hotels.
A spokesman for the Communication Workers Union (CWU), based at the Wimbledon and West Wimbledon Delivery Office in Cranbrook Road, alleges up to one hundred managers are being flown in daily from across the United Kingdom.
He claims some have travelled from as far as Belfast and Glasgow, 470 and 410 miles away respectively.
Some are staying in the four-star Cannizaro House – which is described as an “elegant country house hotel” by Time Out London.
A standard double costs just under £200 per night and main courses in their 2AA Rosette restaurant start at £16.95.
The hotel confirmed they were fully booked all week.
“I couldn’t hazard a guess at how much it costs,” the CWU spokesman said. “It’s ridiculous.”
Managers are paid expense money and overtime on top of their wage.
They are entitled to free food from the delivery office canteen, where Wimbledon postal staff have to pay.
There have been 17 days of strike action at the Wimbledon & West Wimbledon Delivery Office since July. The dispute is over pay and job cuts.
Royal mail offered a 2.5% pay increase but the CWU wants to bring wages in line with the national average within five years, which would mean a rise of 27%.
Both Royal Mail and the CWU agree job cuts are necessary but the CWU says Royal Mail will not stipulate the extent of plans to streamline the service.
A Royal Mail spokesperson, who denied first-class travel had been paid for, said: “We have a very modest approach to any travel and accommodation and Royal Mail employees do not use first-class travel.”
She says Royal Mail is doing everything it can, including drafting in management to keep mail moving.
They call upon CWU to call off the strikes, which they see as an inconvenience to customers that harms the business.
A postman at the delivery office said Wimbledon’s backlog is much worse than other offices in south London.
He claimed this is not because of the strikes but because Wimbledon is the pilot office for a new route planning method, Pegasus.
The new system, which plots delivery routes electronically, has been used in Wimbledon since August 24th.
The postman said before its implementation, the backlog from strike days was cleared within two days.
He said: “There are so many problems with Pegasus. It’s just not working.”
