Petition Response-Postal Justice

[Stormproof]

Postaljustice - epetition reply7 December 2007

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure the government accepts its responsibility for postal services in this country by virtue of its ownership of the Royal Mail."

Details of Petition:

"Government should ensure that Royal Mail address the concerns of their employees urgently; refraining from forcing through draconian measures, guaranteed to isolate the workforce and create industrial unrest as it has attempted recently. We call upon the PM to ensure the government supports the Royal Mail, introduces modernisation which has the backing of the workforce, improves the mail services to the country, ensures a thriving and modern Royal Mail, whilst maintaining and improving the working conditions of its employers and the future sustainability of jobs within the Royal Mail. The Government should ensure a speedy and productive outcome of urgent talks to resolve this dispute and guarantee the future of Royal Mail services, rewarding appropriately the loyalty and professionalism of its workforce. Urging postal workers to accept a decline in their pensions, terms & conditions, massive redundancies, is not the answer. The same level of commitment as that shown over Northern Rock, should be evident regarding the future of Government owned Royal Mail. The Royal Mail is central to modern and flourishing economy of this country."


Read the Government's response As you will have seen from recent media reports, Royal Mail and the CWU reached an agreement which was ratified by the CWU Postal Executive on 22 October.

The Government is pleased that issues have now been resolved and agreement has been reached between the CWU and Royal Mail and it urges all postal workers to support their union's recommendation in the forthcoming ballot. The deal agreed is a good one for the company and its employees; and, insofar as it sets Royal Mail on a path to becoming a modern and flexible organisation, capable of reacting to changes in market and changing consumer needs, it is good for all customers.

The recent disputes at Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd relate to pay and changes to working practices and conditions and were matters for the management and unions to resolve. The Royal Mail board has responsibility for running the company and it is for them to agree a deal over pay and conditions with the unions without interference from Government.

It is clear that Royal Mail has to modernise so that it can compete in a fully liberalised market. Earlier this year, Government agreed a finance framework worth some £2 billion to back strategic plans aimed at modernising operations and supporting the pension fund. This support has been provided on a commercial basis and is all about putting the company on a sound financial footing. The Government's investment package and the new commitment of the workforce and management on modern working practices mean Royal Mail is now robustly placed for the future. The management and the union can now concentrate on working together to meet the very real challenges of a liberalised market and changing demands of the market and its customers.

[POSTMAN]

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