Unions accused of undermining Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Postal union leaders have been accused of seeking to “destroy” plans to modernise the Royal Mail after they announced a national strike ballot and said thousands of workers would take industrial action over the weekend.

The postal service has warned that a recent wave of strike action – which comes as part-privatisation has stalled – could lead to a permanent loss of business, with mail volumes already declining by about 10 per cent each year.

Paul Tolhurst, the Royal Mail’s operations director, said the the threat of a nationwide strike and the behaviour of the Communications Workers Union, which represents postal delivery workers, “beggars belief”.

The company and the union have blamed each other for the unrest. Dave Ward, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, said mail bosses had reneged on a 2007 agreement to work with the union on the modernisation and that they were “imposing panic-driven cuts to jobs and services. This is down-sizing not modernisation”.

Postal workers in Birmingham, Coventry, Edinburgh, London and other locations will each take 24 hours of strike action on Friday, Saturday and Monday. The action will involve Royal Mail drivers for the first time since a national dispute in 2007, meaning cross-country mail services will be severely disrupted – which will have a knock-on effect on businesses fulfilling orders.

The national strike ballot is pencilled in for September.

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who was forced to back down on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, said recently that the union was “essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail”.

Senior managers at the mail service have met union officials more than 50 times in recent months, but have accused the CWU of refusing to acknowledge the challenges faced by national post providers around the world.

“It is time the union realised that customers have a choice in a market where there are not just many rival carriers but rival electronic means of communication,” the company said.

In the national dispute two years ago Royal Mail lost business to private competitors, which now have a third of the market for collecting and sorting letters, although 95 per cent are still delivered by the state-owned operator.

[Pinky 1]

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who was forced to back down on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, said recently that the union was “essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail”.

Does Mandy have any idea what he is saying ?
Does he know what he is talking about ?
Has he got any clue to what is actually happening "on the ground" ?

No .....thought not .....

[Shrek]

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who was forced to back down on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, said recently that the union was “essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail”.

Does Mandy have any idea what he is saying ?
Does he know what he is talking about ?
Has he got any clue to what is actually happening "on the ground" ?

No .....thought not .....

I think Mandy thinks his next promotion will be to replace the Queen. Come on there must be some smart alec comments for this one

[shadow]

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who was forced to back down on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, said recently that the union was “essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail”.

Does Mandy have any idea what he is saying ?
Does he know what he is talking about ?
Has he got any clue to what is actually happening "on the ground" ?

No .....thought not .....

I think Mandy thinks his next promotion will be to replace the Queen. Come on there must be some smart alec comments for this one

no comment.

[norbert]

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, who was forced to back down on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail, said recently that the union was “essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail”.

Does Mandy have any idea what he is saying ?
Does he know what he is talking about ?
Has he got any clue to what is actually happening "on the ground" ?

No .....thought not .....

I think Mandy thinks his next promotion will be to replace the Queen. Come on there must be some smart alec comments for this one

no comment.

Front page of The Independent today - Mandy as PM bit like the Daily Sport with Lancaster Bomber on the moon & Elvis seen in Wigan headlines . Then Harridan Harperson is pushing for him to be leader

The cuts are based on the all singing , all dancing machines which are not there - that beggars belief too .

[pinstripe]

I think Mandy thinks his next promotion will be to replace the Queen. Come on there must be some smart alec comments for this one

What like the Queen in Snow White, or Freddie Mercury?