City Link staff to strike over pay and conditions

City Link employees will take seven days of strike action in a dispute over pay, working conditions and a change to contracts.

The industrial action, which will take place from 24 to 30 September, is the result of a ballot with 157 drivers and 91 warehouse employees who are members of the transport union RMT.

The courier service organisation has been consulting with its employees since June 2013 over a series of measures aimed at making pay and conditions fairer and more equitable.

Scott Maynard, HR director at City Link, said: “At the moment we are in the position where employees doing the same job in the same depot are getting paid different wages.

“This is a legacy that the current management team has inherited and is one we believe is fundamentally unfair.

“The proposals we have put forward will resolve this while ensuring that the vast majority of employees see no reduction in their pay packet or actually get an increase.

“It is our considered view that the RMT ballot was fundamentally flawed and that any strike action on the back of it would be illegal. We have made the RMT aware of our concerns on a number of occasions without any meaningful response from them; regrettably, we are now left with no other choice than to pursue this matter through the courts.”  

Bob Crow, general secretary at RMT, added: “The assault on pay and conditions by the new, private equity owners of City Link has sparked a surge in recruitment and hundreds of workers are now actively engaged in the fight back at City Link depots across the country. The company should be under no illusions, their workforce are up for this fight.”