Scotland's top trade unionist warns 'perilous' state of Royal Mail is Holyrood election threat

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/poli ... s-36828379

EXCLUSIVE: STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer contacted the UK Government amid mounting trade union concern about the looming ballot.

Scotland’s top trade unionist has warned the Holyrood election is being put at risk by the privatised Royal Mail.

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer has written to the UK Government claiming staffing issues and delays to the postal service are a threat to the poll.

Scots will vote in the seventh Scottish Parliament election in May, with many voting by post at an earlier point during the campaign.

The Royal Mail will also have a key role in delivering election materials to homes across the country.

But the postal workers’ union, the CWU, has a number of concerns with the operation of the Royal Mail and the service being provided.

They say a two-tier workforce model, introduced in late 2022, has created “significant friction and disharmony” among postal workers.

The CWU claims 21% of new starters in Scotland leave within 90 days and say morale is at an “all-time low”.

They also say a new delivery model will lead to problems like mail being delayed.

Foyer, who represents hundreds of thousands of workers, has now written to Labour's Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle.

She claimed Royal Mail is in a “perilous state” and wrote:

“Workload has increased substantially for workers on the ground with increased delays to mail delivery whilst the costs of the rollout of the model outstrip any projected savings predicted by the company.

“Mail delivery and the guarantee of a universal postal service is a critical function of our nation’s infrastructure. An unsustainable workload from an unworkable model result in delays and harm to our communities.”

She wrote that trade union votes had been marred by “missing ballots” and claimed democracy is being “compromised” by “failures” of the privatised postal service.

Foyer added: “With the Scottish Parliament elections mere weeks away, with election material and postal ballots playing a critical role, the CWU and the STUC have deep concerns over the Royal Mail’s ability to ensure the election is representative and fully functional.”

She told the Record: “We simply cannot compromise the validity of that vote if Royal Mail fail to deliver election material or postal ballots as expected.”

Craig Anderson, CWU Regional Official for Scotland, said: “There is a viable and genuine threat to our democratic process if Royal Mail are allowed to run rampant with their rogue reform agenda to the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

“Their unworkable Optimised Delivery Model simply does not work. High staff turnover and poor conditions, unsurprisingly, is leading to delayed deliveries and stacks of mail piling up with no end in sight.“These failures don’t just fail the company – they fail communities. We need the UK Government to show leadership and facilitate further meetings between the company, unions and politicians to ensure the upcoming elections are not threatened nor compromised by the current failures of Royal Mail.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We reject claims that postal services in Scotland pose any risk to the delivery of election material or postal votes. We take our role in supporting UK democracy extremely seriously and have successfully delivered elections for many years.

"Our dedicated elections team plans year-round and has been working with the Electoral Commission, Scottish Government, local authorities, political parties, printers and suppliers to ensure candidate mail, poll cards and postal votes are delivered securely and on time. Robust processes and daily operational oversight are in place throughout the election period to maintain service stability and resolve any issues quickly.

"These well-rehearsed measures mean we are fully prepared to deliver election mail across Scotland, and suggestions that the delivery of election mail is at risk are simply wrong.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: "The public rightly expects a well-run postal service and ministers recently met with the CEOs of Royal Mail and International Distribution Services about improving the quality of the service.

"We will continue to ensure Royal Mail works to deliver the modern quality service people expect.”

[ted_e_bear]

It'll be interesting to see what level of priority the d2d type candidate mail gets, especially in an odm office that only delivers mail five times a fortnight, that stuff dribbles in with apparently no warning of what's going to turn up on a daily basis.

[PDAHappy]

RM are advertising a six week contract for Angard workers to deliver election materials for £13.37 an hour with an additional potential £50 dependant on election materials delivered.This must be RM’s way of solving the issue of not enough OPG’s in the D.O.’s.If Angel y get the polling cards too that’s going to sting!.

[ted_e_bear]

RM are advertising a six week contract for Angard workers to deliver election materials for £13.37 an hour with an additional potential £50 dependant on election materials delivered.This must be RM’s way of solving the issue of not enough OPG’s in the D.O.’s.If Angel y get the polling cards too that’s going to sting!.

Might as well give em a few d2ds and some letters whilst they're at it, f***s sake this company is embarrassing

[Mr Rush]

When Labour put out their special three day D2D before the 2024 election, our days off intervened and without cover only a third of it got delivered before election day. So I would say the danger is very real. If only something had been done in the subsequent two years to fix it.

It'll be interesting to see what level of priority the d2d type candidate mail gets, especially in an odm office that only delivers mail five times a fortnight, that stuff dribbles in with apparently no warning of what's going to turn up on a daily basis.

Under P&L it's hard enough to keep tabs on what you've counted, prepped, and (half) delivered on your own walk when it all comes in randomly. It was a lot easier under SDD because you just did it all yourself until it was all gone. If, with the ODM, you're rotating on and off four duties with three other people then it'll be a complete wreck. Don't say control sheets because I haven't seen a D2D one in about eighteen months.