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| Royal Mail strike ballot planned over privatisation | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Postal workers could vote on whether to strike over issues linked to the government's plans to privatise Royal Mail, their union has announced. | |
| Communication Workers Union reps have voted to press ahead with a ballot no later than September if "satisfactory agreements" are not reached. | |
| It would be the first such ballot since September 2009. | |
| The dispute is over jobs, pensions and other issues arising from the planned sell-off of Royal Mail. | |
| The CWU said it wanted to protect jobs and maintain pay, while preventing the deterioration of its members' pensions and conditions and the deterioration of postal services. | |
| Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said he thought a ballot was "inevitable". | |
| He said there would be a national day of action in protest at the privatisation plans, which could include a 24-hour strike. | |
| The government was "talking nonsense" and had misled the public over its plans, he told delegates at a CWU conference in London. | |
| "Workers have embraced modernisation, and helped increase profits by 60%, so why should we just hand it over to someone only interested in making money?" he asked. | |
| "We have a duty to defend the postal service - and we will." | |
| Business Secretary Vince Cable has said 10% of Royal Mail shares would go to existing employees, while the rest would be sold-off. | |
| The government and Royal Mail management say the service needs access to private capital in order to grow and compete. | |
| Plans for privatisation have been on the table for a number of years, with legislation to pave the way for the sale enacted in 2011. | |
| "We do not take the decisions to hold a strike ballot lightly," Mr Ward added. | |
| "However, we will stop at nothing to ensure the future of our members' jobs - and of the services they deliver - are protected." |