Privatised post

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Privat ... 5516316.jp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AS a postal worker, I read Graeme McKenzie's letter (30 July) with interest.

He laments the service offered by Royal Mail and I for one, as well as many of my colleagues, would acknowledge his concerns. However, the current problems with service lie squarely at the feet of the government.

It was they who liberalised the postal market, opening the market up to largely foreign competition who have cherry picked profitable areas. With the introduction of downstream access other mail operators can collect mail and then use the Royal Mail's network for final distribution and delivery. Royal Mail receives 13 pence per item – a fraction compared to the original retail price despite shouldering the majority of costs and labour. The current government has embraced this as "competition" while European neighbours have continually vetoed this in their own markets.

There can be no doubt that privitisation is the ultimate goal instead of a properly funded public service. When Royal Mail workers see workloads increase, jobs slashed and little commitment to honouring long standing pension commitments, caused in the main by Thatcherite dogma, industrial action can be the only option left.

Following Chancellor Alistair Darling's billion-pound giveaway to failed private businesses such as RBS, Lloyds TSB and Land Rover, it leaves this worker with the impression that Labour has no wish to see a publicly owned Royal Mail succeed. That would be to the detriment of staff, business and the country as a whole.

GRAHAM MARTIN

New Mart Place

Edinburgh