CWU: personal observations / thoughts

[Subman]

Firstly, I am a union member and i will always be a union member.

From the very beginning of the dispute it was clear that the Union was COMPLETELY blind sided. Royal Mail declared war on employees and the CWU did not see it coming. This was a failure by the CWU.

The Postal service is no longer as an important part of society as it used to be, and the communications regulator, Ofcom, is a ' toothless ' organisation. Despite these difficulties there were a number of good performances by Dave and Andy on TV, and there was good work done in bringing the issues to the parliamentary committee.
Overall, however I am left with the feeling that the CWU was not as adequately prepared, imaginative or successful as it should have been in making our case .

There were a number of communications during the dispute that if given a second thought, should not have been made. Also, saying that members would receive communications at a time and then not giving members communications, was a bit of an own goal.
Despite these failings I was never left in any doubt that the individuals communicating to the membership were on our side, and managed to communicate successfully enough to a membership spread across a large spread of functions and a wide range of geographic regions to keep us united during a long and difficult dispute.

[derekm]

The cwu really needs to up its game. It’s a totally different company they are taking on who’s only interest is shareholders. they brought in union busting lawyers to destroy it and the workforce’s will to strike. With the amount of subs coming in it’s time they employed top lawyers and people who know how to fight back against the attacks that came our way.

[Subman]

The cwu really needs to up its game. It’s a totally different company they are taking on who’s only interest is shareholders. they brought in union busting lawyers to destroy it and the workforce’s will to strike. With the amount of subs coming in it’s time they employed top lawyers and people who know how to fight back against the attacks that came our way.

[taurus88]

The CWU underestimated RM - not only their will to persevere and accept a calamitous Christmas and the damage to it’s reputation in the short-term, but also in terms of the long-term ambitions.

I still think the CWU doesn’t realise what has actually happened - RM has broken the union and has accepted that this achievement will not bear fruit yet for a couple of years. The short-term increase in outgoings in terms of our pay doesn’t matter because so many staff will leave in the next 12 months, it will pay for itself.

The CWU will now lose members on three sides; from members leaving the business, from members voting with their feet and leaving the union, and from new employees on weaker contracts with few protections opting not to join the union.

And that very likely means that, in 12 to 18 months time when the NEXT deal comes around, RM’s negotiators will walk into a room with a union having been severely weakened in terms of numbers, and probably also in terms of its togetherness among the members who do remain.

There’s a perception that this dispute was about pay, modernisation, and a desperate need to stop the slow bleed of revenue, but there was a shadow war being waged for hearts and minds, for power and influence, and - unsurprisingly given the calibre of person that has somehow risen to the height of influence within our union - it was Royal Mail that won that war.

[scotchy1962]

The union as a force in the workplace have lost any power it had, they allowed themselves to be bullied into agreeing something they had already said they wouldn't, and lets be real here they have completely u-turned to save themselves and tossed us to the wolves.
Don't know if any of what RM told them was true, personally i doubt it, but they folded quicker than superman on laundry day.
Thing is they had one of the biggest yes votes in history and wouldn't use it.
Their communication is abysmal in this modern era, the least you can do when you say we will talk to you on a certain date is to talk to them on said date.
I am not sure how the union get the workplace back on side, how can you trust them after this, any calls for support will probably just get the apathy they wanted for the agreement vote and they will fall flat on their face.
I am nearing the end of my worklife but i fear for those i leave behind and their future.
The union need to change, they need a top to bottom clear out and they need it now.
Just like governments who have been in power too long they become lazy, corrupt and complacent that's why we vote them out eventually.

[jahbalon]

Too much nit picking on the CWU Executive and reading too much into this strike campaign/settlement.

It was a very difficult and complex set of negotiations with a bull headed Simon Thompson and tough Royal Mail negotiators, armed with elite lawyers by their sides.

This Deal is actually a victory for the CWU who forced Royal Mail to compromise in the end
and get rid of Thompson who was the deal breaker.

We got an 8% pay rise, 2% + 6% this year, £1,400 plus lump sum, back dated pay to April and job security and safeguarded terms and conditions.

How anybody can say this is a defeat for the CWU beggars belief.

[Grads75]

The CWU underestimated RM - not only their will to persevere and accept a calamitous Christmas and the damage to it’s reputation in the short-term, but also in terms of the long-term ambitions.

I still think the CWU doesn’t realise what has actually happened - RM has broken the union and has accepted that this achievement will not bear fruit yet for a couple of years. The short-term increase in outgoings in terms of our pay doesn’t matter because so many staff will leave in the next 12 months, it will pay for itself.

The CWU will now lose members on three sides; from members leaving the business, from members voting with their feet and leaving the union, and from new employees on weaker contracts with few protections opting not to join the union.

And that very likely means that, in 12 to 18 months time when the NEXT deal comes around, RM’s negotiators will walk into a room with a union having been severely weakened in terms of numbers, and probably also in terms of its togetherness among the members who do remain.

There’s a perception that this dispute was about pay, modernisation, and a desperate need to stop the slow bleed of revenue, but there was a shadow war being waged for hearts and minds, for power and influence, and - unsurprisingly given the calibre of person that has somehow risen to the height of influence within our union - it was Royal Mail that won that war.

The cwu see this agreement as a win because of the thought process of how bad it could have been.but RM have massively won like you have said people leaving RM,people leaving cwu due to the bad deal,new starters/agency who couldn't care less either way and when RM go back against this agreement in 12 month like they always do the cwu will ask for support but will never get the support they had and didn't use it to the optimum.

[LouBarlow]

The CWU hasn’t lost its power. Both leaders and members were just beyond naive from the start, promising things that were not financially possible. The fact they have mitigated the change RM initially wanted to impose, as well as securing a pay-rise and bonus is remarkable considering the financial state of both the company and the economy. If the union truly had no power, RM wouldn’t have negotiated at all. The fact is, you can’t get blood out of a stone, and this compromise from both sides, results in security for all parties concerned.

What reduces the union’s power long-term, is people stamping their feet and throwing a hissy fit because the vote didn’t go their way and leaving the union. Diminishing union membership numbers help none of us.

[Acca Dacca]

What reduces the union’s power long-term, is people stamping their feet and throwing a hissy fit because the vote didn’t go their way and leaving the union. Diminishing union membership numbers help none of us.

Now that I can agree with. Cutting their nose off to spite their face.

[richj2009]

Take everyone's 1400 away but keep sick and ihr terms as they are. That's a proper compromise

[tonyt450]

I personally think the interview Simon Thompson, Dave Ward and Terry pullinger had done on YouTube a few years ago (it's still up) where Simon was talking about trust and how important the CWU was going forward completely blind sided Big Dave and the CWU into thinking Thompson was a different CEO who will work with the union, which is why I believe Ward was so slow into reacting.


He built them up and then bang the boxing match started and gave us all a knockout punch.

[richj2009]

I personally think the interview Simon Thompson, Dave Ward and Terry pullinger had done on YouTube a few years ago (it's still up) where Simon was talking about trust and how important the CWU was going forward completely blind sided Big Dave and the CWU into thinking Thompson was a different CEO who will work with the union, which is why I believe Ward was so slow into reacting.


He built them up and then bang the boxing match started and gave us all a knockout punch.

I remember that. Although you could see him smirking to someone off camera and he lied about the capabilities of the new pdas. They are the worst we have had in the rain not the best.

[Jack1960]

Totally out of their depth , hardly anyone on my round knew we were on strike , i used to see vans delivering on my way back from the picket line , Once It was no strings we were on a loser as even the most militant knew it couldnt carry on the way things were going.
Senior man in our office voted , no and no in the ballots .
He said the changes would come in we would have been better off starting from that point.
He stood up in meeting after meeting before the votes to say why he was voting no and now people accept he was right .
My memory of the dispute is seeing Ward and Lynch from the rail unión having some sort of love in laughing their heads off. Not a pretty sight.

[postslippete]

The CWU leadership have massively overpromised and grossly underdelivered. And from a point of a 97% mandate for strike action to not even announce any strike dates in spite of the company imposing revisions, they instead opted to run the ballot down promising communication updates and then never showed up - what on earth were they thinking??

In all honesty, workers voted yes - not because it was a good deal but because they were told by senior Union officials that they had no other choice. Thousands of members will leave the Union either through leaving their jobs or cancelling their subs and imho it now has a job on their hands to win back the trust of its members.

How do I think it can do this? Woody would probably be more qualified than me to comment but from what I see the Union organisation is too imbued by bureaucracy. Do they really need all these PECs and senior reps? Perhaps more resources should be allocated towards getting a good legal team? The last strike that Royal Mail planned and had to cancel due to the legal challenge was a massive own goal and an embarrassment.

But it goes beyond that. There must be thousands of daily conversations everyday between staff and managers regarding workloads and those who simply want to work to their time which can lead to potential conduct issues and that is something which the Union desperately need to look into, especially with extended deliveries and everything else that we are tasked to do. COMs are trained up to try and coerce/force staff into taking the work and some of them simply won't take no for answer even if it means we are forced to do overtime; and that to me is wrong. Whenever managers need support and advice they ring up HR and they give them advice on what to do and how to proceed on the spot - is there anyway that the CWU could do the same for its members?? It's clear that just relying on your unit rep isn't always viable. Partly, because some of them have opted for the good life and have decided to work more in line with the managers for their own ends and partly because in many offices there just isn't a rep available when you want one. if you really want the trust and the backing of its members the Union should always be there for them 24/7 in my view.

And if it isn't there for its members, what is the point of belonging to a trade union in the first place?

[norris9]

I have no idea how you think the CWU could have prevented the changes.... you are completely deluded if you thought this bullying company would have given us a 10% pay rise and no changes if the CWU had been more hard line against them.

Royal Mail have been hard line against the CWU and us because they balls'd-up the companies finances, so they had to make savings by making crazy decisions. The revisions and staffing levels are ridiculous. The quality of service is diabolical. It's all down to the mismanagement of finances and now they are mismanaging the whole service.