Oppose Royal Mail's assault on the USO! Defeat CWU's collusion!

[stage3]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/0 ... z-a11.html

Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (UK)

The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee invites workers across delivery offices, mail centres, Parcelforce and Fleet to attend an online meeting on April 28 to discuss a fightback against Royal Mail’s assault on the USO and the jobs and conditions of postal workers.


Royal Mail has unveiled plans to dismantle six-day letter deliveries, escalating the war against postal workers that has been ongoing since at least 2022 with the complicity of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) postal executive.

In its submission to regulator Ofcom on April 2, Royal Mail calls for the USO’s reduction to a 2.5 day or 3-day-a-week service for second class and bulk mail and is demanding a decision from Ofcom by April 2025.

A jobs massacre is underway and is set to intensify. Royal Mail states: “the total number of delivery routes is expected to reduce by c. 7,000-9,000.” The CWU estimates job losses of between 13,700 and 17,800, based on cost “efficiencies” of £750 million to £975 million targeted by Royal Mail. But “frontline job losses could be considerably higher than this.”

The job cuts are part of a global war against postal and logistics workers—including at Amazon, UPS, Australia Post, Canada Post and the US Postal Service—as corporate boardrooms seize on new technology to reduce the workforce and slash costs.

While Royal Mail executives justify their plans as “modernisation” and the inevitable result of declining letters in a digital age, its social vandalism is motivated by one thing only: shareholder profit for billionaire parasites such as Vesa Equity and Blackrock Inc.

Charities have described Royal Mail’s plans—backed by Ofcom--as “disastrous”. On April 4, NHS leaders warned: “two million people may have missed medical appointments in 2022-23 due to late delivery of letters, and this will only deteriorate under the proposed new plans.”

Citizens Advice (CA) has protested that millions are being harmed by missed NHS appointments, court notices and welfare benefits decisions. It is the poorest and most vulnerable who are hardest hit, with CA reporting 21 percent of disabled people have experienced “negative consequences” because of letter delays.

Royal Mail is being converted into an Amazon-style parcels business, based on gig-economy conditions and wages. Its new Super Hubs are aimed at driving this through. Labour saving technologies which could make our lives easier and improve the postal service are instead being used to squeeze maximum profit out of postal workers and reduce letter deliveries, throwing thousands of colleagues onto the scrapheap.

This was the real purpose of last year’s national agreement co-authored by CWU officials Dave Ward, and Andy Furey, backed by the postal executive and national reps meetings. It was a sellout of monumental proportions that introduced a two-tier workforce, reduced sick-pay, a new performance regime, later start and finish times, seasonal hours, and which approved the shift to 24-7 parcel delivery, ending any work-life balance.

If Royal Mail is saying there will be “no forced redundancies” this is only because the CWU is already helping the company drive out thousands of “legacy staff” through impossible workloads and a hostile regime of management bullying and victimisation, sanctified by the Falconer Review.

How are postal workers to fight? The CWU accepts the market-driven dictates of Royal Mail. During the dispute Ward told members they would face “Armageddon” if they did not accept the CWU’s surrender terms. Failure to “accept change” would force Royal Mail into bankruptcy with the loss of thousands of jobs. This is exactly what Royal Mail is now carrying through, with the CWU on its knees, obediently putting forward its own proposals for a reduced five-day USO, slower mail delivery speeds and other “efficiencies”.

No-one else is going to step in and resolve this crisis. The CWU, Ofcom, the Tory government and Labour all support Royal Mail’s war against the USO and postal workers. The CWU’s submission to Ofcom on the USO’s future states: “Ideally, Royal Mail would be in public hands and the net costs would be subsidised by the government, but this is difficult under privatisation.” [!]


CWU headquarters endorses Ofcom’s stated position that the USO is “an unfair financial burden on Royal Mail”. Hence Ward’s proposal to Ofcom of an “industry fund” to support the USO with contributions from Amazon, Evri and other parcel companies that are leveraging profits off Royal Mail’s delivery network. This is a “pigs will fly” proposal. Amazon’s main UK division paid zero corporate tax last year, for the second year running, despite receiving £7.7 million in infrastructure investment under the Sunak government’s super-deduction scheme.

The CWU is nakedly touting for the Labour Party, writing to Ofcom: “We are pleased that the Labour Party has agreed to a comprehensive regulatory review of the sector, as part of their National Policy Forum process.” How this sits with Sir Keir Starmer’s praise for Margaret Thatcher, and his insistence that she “set loose Britain’s natural entrepreneurialism”, is a question the CWU cannot answer.

Workers have already shown their willingness to fight. The year-long Royal Mail dispute was part of wave of strikes at the NHS, railways, airlines, buses, ports, oil refineries, warehouses, colleges and schools that was betrayed by the trade union bureaucracy. “Left” officials such as Ward and RMT leader Mick Lynch blocked unified action while concluding backroom deals with the Tory government and employers to impose massive attacks on jobs, pay, terms and conditions.

The lesson is that the working class must intervene with our own strategy through the creation of rank-and-file organisations to lead a fightback. Either our interests prevail, or those of the capitalist financial oligarchy. There is no in-between.

Join the Zoom meeting called by the PWRFC to discuss and plan this fight. Register at wsws.org/postrfc

[guardianangel]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

[FilthyBloke]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

[Barnacle]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

[TopperGas]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

But 85% of the new starters apparently now leave within a few weeks of starting, so they are hardly talking over, I've been at my DO for 4 years and I'm still seen as the "newbie" as around a dozen new starters have all come and gone since I started.

[Barnacle]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

But 85% of the new starters apparently now leave within a few weeks of starting, so they are hardly talking over, I've been at my DO for 4 years and I'm still seen as the "newbie" as around a dozen new starters have all come and gone since I started.

I’ll meet you back at this thread in four years time and we can exchange notes on what has happened

[postslippete]

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

True. The biggest drawback of using vans was that they always had to be driven back to the office and once managers knew how early some posties were getting back, it allowed them to significantly increase lapsing.

Fast forward to today and big brother is now watching everything - what time you officially came in, what time you did the van check, what time you scanned the parcels, how much time was spent idling, what time you came back and lastly what time you officially clocked out. With all this data I don't think it will be too long before the screws start using some sort of performance management and possible conduct if you they knew you were consistently "silent quitting".

[kazardaimenu]

The new guns aren’t exactly outshining or outlasting the old guard so it will make it hard for the managers to put the squeeze on someone just doing the minimum. What more can they ask of them? What more can they expect? This culture of kicking the workforce might just come back to bite them unless their plan is to collapse the company.

[Jb1969]

The new guns aren’t exactly outshining or outlasting the old guard so it will make it hard for the managers to put the squeeze on someone just doing the minimum. What more can they ask of them? What more can they expect? This culture of kicking the workforce might just come back to bite them unless their plan is to collapse the company.

Certainly not slowing down is it, this micro-management is definitely getting worse.
More leaving than ever before & will increase once times change.
Every DO I visit is failing, some by as much as 50%
Perhaps someone with a better mind than myself can explain where this business model is going?

[guardianangel]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

Newbies are stupid the more you do the more they will want,i remember the days of a fair days work for a fair days pay ,now you are all slaves to the job to fill shareholders pockets ,there is a saying with the older posties "never trust a royal mail manager",the day will come when you will question their decisions and you will feel the full nastiness of them.Anyway not long for me now the new starters can run around and get used and abused while i'll be taking it easy letting them and retiring on a very good pension unlike the new starters who will be poor in retirement while those shareholders lord it up,whose the lucky ones now.

[Barnacle]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

Newbies are stupid the more you do the more they will want,i remember the days of a fair days work for a fair days pay ,now you are all slaves to the job to fill shareholders pockets ,there is a saying with the older posties "never trust a royal mail manager",the day will come when you will question their decisions and you will feel the full nastiness of them.Anyway not long for me now the new starters can run around and get used and abused while i'll be taking it easy letting them and retiring on a very good pension unlike the new starters who will be poor in retirement while those shareholders lord it up,whose the lucky ones now.

Some people need to earn more money. That’s not stupidity, it’s economics.

I’m now on a full time contract and never seek overtime, but I used to be on a 25 hour contract. What adult with children can survive on that? So I worked overtime then to make up my hours. Weird that you consider keeping a roof over my head ‘stupid’.

[guardianangel]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

Newbies are stupid the more you do the more they will want,i remember the days of a fair days work for a fair days pay ,now you are all slaves to the job to fill shareholders pockets ,there is a saying with the older posties "never trust a royal mail manager",the day will come when you will question their decisions and you will feel the full nastiness of them.Anyway not long for me now the new starters can run around and get used and abused while i'll be taking it easy letting them and retiring on a very good pension unlike the new starters who will be poor in retirement while those shareholders lord it up,whose the lucky ones now.

Some people need to earn more money. That’s not stupidity, it’s economics.

I’m now on a full time contract and never seek overtime, but I used to be on a 25 hour contract. What adult with children can survive on that? So I worked overtime then to make up my hours. Weird that you consider keeping a roof over my head ‘stupid’.

Newbies aren't taking over, the old guys are taking early retirement on good pensions or leaving for better paid and conditioned jobs,working next to a guy doing the same job on better terms and conditions in my eyes is stupid,royal mail managers will never care who does the job they just want yes sir no sir people,rock the boat and your life will be hell,as i said silent quitting for the old contract guys is the way to go ,if you want to work harder for less be my guest.

[Barnacle]

SILENT QUITTING, its the way forward,forget the cwu or any others look after yourself ,turn up give nothing.

Pretty much…
The company is not going to stop and the CWU isn’t going to try stopping them.

Grab what you can while you can.

When I started at RM, posties we’re still crying about how they used to drive their own cars (can’t think of anything worse), and now they had to pair up and drive RM vans!! As a newbie I had no idea why they were moaning and why they refused to do anything beyond the bare minimum.

All that happened was that a raft of new starters came in who were just like me, to replace the previous on old contracts who left.

The same thing is happening now. The newbies have no idea why you are moaning and just view you as a lazy arse who is lucky to still be employed.

You’re not making a stand, you’re just making it easy for the newbies to take over.

Newbies are stupid the more you do the more they will want,i remember the days of a fair days work for a fair days pay ,now you are all slaves to the job to fill shareholders pockets ,there is a saying with the older posties "never trust a royal mail manager",the day will come when you will question their decisions and you will feel the full nastiness of them.Anyway not long for me now the new starters can run around and get used and abused while i'll be taking it easy letting them and retiring on a very good pension unlike the new starters who will be poor in retirement while those shareholders lord it up,whose the lucky ones now.

Some people need to earn more money. That’s not stupidity, it’s economics.

I’m now on a full time contract and never seek overtime, but I used to be on a 25 hour contract. What adult with children can survive on that? So I worked overtime then to make up my hours. Weird that you consider keeping a roof over my head ‘stupid’.

Newbies aren't taking over, the old guys are taking early retirement on good pensions or leaving for better paid and conditioned jobs,working next to a guy doing the same job on better terms and conditions in my eyes is stupid,royal mail managers will never care who does the job they just want yes sir no sir people,rock the boat and your life will be hell,as i said silent quitting for the old contract guys is the way to go ,if you want to work harder for less be my guest.

In these sunlit uplands where old contract guys leave and get a job on better wages and conditions: won’t they be working next to an old contract guy on better conditions at their new place? Silly.
Staying in the same job for decades and never seeking or being offered promotion, just leaving at the exact same level as you began? That’s not terrifically wise. But hey ho, whatever floats your boat.

[Tman]

He seems rather smug and pejorative to the newcomers and their T&C's too.
So much for that thin veneer of Left Wing solidarity amongst the workers.

[scotchy1962]

Sort of pointless all this infighting, us oldies get what we get and the new starts get exactly what they signed up too. Nobody's fault except the company who created the 2 tiers not us oldies.
It seems to me nobody really wants to let it go, continually dragging it up like it's somebodies fault isn't intelligent just annoying, take some responsibility for what you have done.
The USO is deader than a dead thing in deadland and the union are only hanging around in the hope that something will happen to make them relevant in the workplace, nothing nobody hasn't already worked out for themselves, tell us something we don't know.