POSTAL workers have unanimously passed an emergency motion condemning Royal Mail’s attempts to outsource the processing of compensation claim forms.

The resolution, approved at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) conference on Wednesday evening, said the union’s members were “appalled” at Royal Mail’s plans to contract out the handling of P58 forms, a “significant piece of CWU graded work” involving claims for lost, damaged or delayed mail, to a St Ives-based company.

“Whether or not there are direct job losses, if elements of our work … are in the future performed by employees in other companies on inferior terms and conditions, this is outsourcing and it represents a huge threat to our national agreements,” the motion warned.