Postal workers yesterday condemned as ‘obscene’ over £10m in ‘performance-related bonus’ payments to Royal Mail executives for pushing through ‘efficiency savings’.
Royal Mail Group has paid its executive board members a total of more than £22m in salaries alone, with the executives receiving £10.7m in performance-related bonuses since 2003.
A total of 13 current and former executives at the government-owned company have been rewarded for hitting a series of targets to ‘modernise’ key elements of the business, including Royal Mail and the Postal Service.
Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier has been awarded a total of £2.4m in performance bonuses since arriving at the company in 2003. The figure boosted his £3.6m salary over the period by two-thirds.
Bonuses totalling £1.03m were split between just four individuals last year.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) Eastern Region branch secretary Paul Moffat told News Line yesterday: ‘This is typical.
‘Royal Mail bosses have spent the past two years running down the business with slash and burn, cost-cutting, job losses and lost revenue.
‘They say Royal Mail hasn’t got any money, whilst paying obscene bonuses to managers and directors.
‘It’s quite disgraceful, especially when workers are getting a zero per cent pay rise, there are cuts to the service and wanton destruction.
‘This is where the government has got to step in as the major share holder in Royal Mail.
‘These bosses must be taken to account over these obscene bonuses, just as MPs are over their expenses.
‘They all think they are above the law.
‘This is just another thread of the attack on post workers, we need to sort this out as part of our industrial action.
‘We now need to serve notice soon for all-out industrial action, to save our jobs and save Royal Mail as a public service.’
In north London, Hampstead Delivery Office CWU deputy unit rep John Taylor said: ‘This is absolutely disgraceful.
‘It comes on the back of a loss of 40,000 postal workers’ jobs over the past two years.
‘And it’s not only senior management, lower down managers got bonuses this year as well.
‘Delivery office managers got up to £4,000 this year.
‘All these are on the back of “efficiency savings”, which to us mean job cuts.
‘The postmen got nothing, that’s why the strike is not about money but to save people’s jobs.
‘The more jobs that go, the richer these directors are getting – backed by the government.
‘The national strike is the only thing that is going to sort this out.
‘London is out again on Wednesday. Tomorrow’s (CWU) Postal Executive must call the national strike within the next seven days.
‘We’ve given Royal Mail plenty of offers of a no-strike clause – we don’t want to hear of that any more.’
South Kensington Delivery Office CWU rep Tony McGrath said: ‘I’m disgusted.
‘The fact that they are doing this sort of thing is outrageous.
‘They brought the strike on us while they are getting the bonuses.’
Morecambe Labour MP Geraldine Smith also condemned the executives, saying ‘they should not be taking millions of pounds out of the company.’
She added: ‘Anyone can make people redundant or cancel the second delivery.’
