Leaving the CWU

[timbo1234]

This has been answered so many times now. RM have fully costed this agreement. They have taken into account every aspect and have weighed up how the concessions will impact on them financially. They want a compliant workforce, not industrial action. Stability is good for the share price and the shareholders. When you have financial stability you then have access to credit going forward and access to liquidity. If no deal is reached after this vote, RM will have to outline a financial plan to keep the company afloat. I.e. change.

I've said all along that the RM board desperately need this deal. They haven't paid out an interim dividend and the share price is just above its 52 week low. The last thing that Royal Mail want is any further industrial unrest after the financial losses this year. And you're quite right about the share price because Royal Mail spent £200 million of the profits that we made due to the pandemic on a share buyback. The one thing that RM do have is a strong balance sheet and £1.7 billion in available liquidity which means that they always had access to this credit going forward. One bad financial year for this company doesn't mean that the company is plunging headfirst into administration!! But I agree, if no deal is reached that won't prevent this company from making changes mainly because our cost base is much higher than our competitors.

If RM IS losing £1m per day and there was a no vote it could not continue to lose that amount week in week out. The liquidity you refer to is not some bank account with wads of cash in it. It is a facility that allows them to borrow money. That is of course dependant upon having a sound business plan and being able to repay the loan given interest rates are now 5% . If RM had "cash in hand at the bank" that is a different situation. Even then without a recovery plan RM would face pressure from shareholders who would not agree to just throw money at the problem.

[Woody Guthrie]

The fact is whether they need this deal or not is pretty irrelevant.

If it's a no vote they won't have it.

Unlike us they will have a plan b.

Common sense says that isn't going to be spending more months locked in pointless talks with the CWU trying to renegotiate a "better agreement" that the membership could just turn around and reject again. They just don't have time for more of the same.

Common sense would also tell you that if they were so desperate for a deal and still had room to make concessions they would have already thrown them at this deal rather than risk it being rejected.

Probably just scaremongering though.

[thefox]

Not long now till we find out our fate

[pieoftheday]

The fact is whether they need this deal or not is pretty irrelevant.

If it's a no vote they won't have it.

Unlike us they will have a plan b.

Common sense says that isn't going to be spending more months locked in pointless talks with the CWU trying to renegotiate a "better agreement" that the membership could just turn around and reject again. They just don't have time for more of the same.

Common sense would also tell you that if they were so desperate for a deal and still had room to make concessions they would have already thrown them at this deal rather than risk it being rejected.

Probably just scaremongering though.

Would it be an idea for the CWU to have a plan B? Just incase ?

[Woody Guthrie]

Would it be an idea for the CWU to have a plan B? Just incase ?

The problem is whether we would like a plan b or not our options would be limited and entirely dependant on Royal Mail's reaction to a rejection of this agreement.

[pieoftheday]

Would it be an idea for the CWU to have a plan B? Just incase ?

The problem is whether we would like a plan b or not our options would be limited and entirely dependant on Royal Mail's reaction to a rejection of this agreement.

I'd be amazed if the CWU top brass havnt thought about a no vote being returned.

[Woody Guthrie]

Would it be an idea for the CWU to have a plan B? Just incase ?

The problem is whether we would like a plan b or not our options would be limited and entirely dependant on Royal Mail's reaction to a rejection of this agreement.

I'd be amazed if the CWU top brass havnt thought about a no vote being returned.

Like I said our options would be limited.

Really to be honest you would need a plan b and a plan c.

Plan b would be if Royal Mail agreed to fresh negotiators.

Even if Royal Mail agreed to fresh negotiatoins there would still be questions that needed answers.

1. Would the same negotiators who have said all along that this is the best agreement they could achieve and have just been given a massive vote of no confidence by the membership have any legitimate right to go negotiate for more and would they even want to?

If not then who, the whole union hierarchy has backed this deal including the PEC so it's difficult to see who could legitimately say they were invested in fighting for a new deal.

2. What do the members actually want? There's no point in fresh negotiations if you don't know what it would take to get a vote accepted, the problem is different issues are different to different members and some issues like later starts are not really going to change much no matter how long you negotiate.

Plan C would be if Royal Mail refuse to negotiate and go on the offensive.
This is probably the most likely and also the most difficult to plan for, a new ballot would almost certainly be needed but before that you would need to re-engage the membership and convince them that more strikes would achieve something they haven't so far.
The same applies as far as who leads us, after a rejection there's no way it could be Dave and Andy. Personally I think if we find ourselves in this position we're in a very dark place.

Before anyone says this is just scaremongering it isn't, I haven't a clue how it will end but these are definitely our only two options following a rejection.

[thefox]

Seems to be the same old same old on every topic on here now, im sure most people will have voted by now the conversations on here are going round in circles nobody is convincingly anyone from the opposite camp to change their mind.