New vision for Royal Mail's future

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/2 ... on-cruddas



Peter Mandelson is facing months of conflict with his own party after Labour MPs last night rallied behind an alternative vision for the future of Royal Mail and a campaign to kill his plans for its part-privatisation.

The Observer has established that prominent backbenchers and former ministers are working with the pressure groups Compass and the independent New Economics Foundation on a detailed blueprint for a modern, wholly publicly owned Royal Mail linked to a new people's bank that would serve all local communities.

Supporters of the rebel plan - who will launch their ideas in the House of Commons in the new year - are confident that they will win support from more than 100 Labour MPs fiercely opposed to legislation being planned by ministers for 30 per cent of Royal Mail - the last major nationalised industry - be hived off to foreign, private sector operators.

John Grogan, the Labour MP for Selby, said last night that arguments over Royal Mail's future risked splitting Labour in the run-up to the next general election.

There was a serious danger that they could also reignite old hostilities between Mandelson and backbenchers after a period of new-found unity.

"Peter has won a great deal of respect in recent months and has helped sharpen up the government's act," Grogan said. "But that does not mean that backbenchers will give him a blank cheque to overturn established policy."

Grogan said MPs from "all shades of opinion" in the party were "shocked and astonished" when Mandelson overturned party policy last week by backing proposals from Richard Hooper, a former deputy chairman of Ofcom, to privatise parts of the loss-making Royal Mail. Warning that the policy could trigger a Labour civil war, he added: "Do we really want to spend precious months tearing ourselves apart on this issue, rather than concentrating on the economy?"

The MPs are working on a scheme developed by the New Economics Foundation and Jon Cruddas, the influential backbencher, for the national network of 12,000 post offices, which are part of Royal Mail and will remain in public ownership, to become outlets for a new people's bank. The plan is to use profits and financial resources from the bank to fund modernisation of the entire Royal Mail, which would expand and develop as a core service at the heart of community life. According to a report to be released by the foundation in the new year: "The bank would offer the full services of a retail bank, including current accounts, loans at fair rates, children's accounts as well as services for local businesses."

The report says: "The Post Bank should be established as a social enterprise geared towards the public interest in local communities rather than maximising returns for shareholders." The MPs intend to table a Commons motion next month. Peter Hain, the former cabinet minister, who has spoken out against the privatisation plans, is said to be offering his support.

Neal Lawson, director of Compass, the centre-left pressure group, who worked alongside Alan Johnson, the current health secretary, to kill off privatisation plans in 1994 when Johnson was general secretary of the Union of Communication Workers (UCW), said Gordon Brown was making a "massive mistake" in taking on his party.

"At some point, the centre-left has to find a service it can successfully modernise, while it remains wholly public. The Royal Mail is it. No one rules out private-sector innovation, but it should be for the benefit of people, not profit.

'The prime minister worries about the loss of Britishness. There is no more potent symbol of the nation than the Royal Mail. Why go and sell it the highest foreign bidder? We don't privatise the police because they cost us money - so why the Royal Mail?"

The Hooper report said that while the Post Office side of Royal Mail should remain publicly owned, the loss-making postal service desperately needed injections of private capital and management expertise if it was to continue to offer a six-day-a-week "universal service".

Royal Mail had not only been a victim of the digital age, notably text messaging and email, but it was also crippled by poor labour relations, outdated working practices, a soaring pension deficit, restrictions on the prices it could charge, and an inappropriate system of regulation, the report said.

Mandelson backed the report's call for a "strategic partnership" with one or more private sector companies "with demonstrable experience in transforming a major business... in circumstances comparable to those now faced by Royal Mail". The profit-making Dutch company TNT has expressed an interest and it and Germany's Deutsche Post were held up as possible models to follow. Hooper said both companies had begun "radical restructuring" of their networks in the early 1990s. As a result, TNT made an operating profit of £500m and Deutsche Post £1.6bn from their mail operations last year, while Royal Mail suffered an operating loss of £3m.

A source at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said ministers were already working on how the Post Office could diversify into "a broader range of financial services". He said: "People should take time to consider what is on offer and not form an instant judgment. Outside investment and management expertise, action on the pension deficit and on regulation is the way to turn round Royal Mail and secure its future in public ownership."

[axeman]

niel kinnock just this moment said royal mail whilst needing investment also ' needs a change of management at the top'

[Broxi51]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/2 ... on-cruddas

Mandelson backed the report's call for a "strategic partnership" with one or more private sector companies "with demonstrable experience in transforming a major business... in circumstances comparable to those now faced by Royal Mail". The profit-making Dutch company TNT has expressed an interest and it and Germany's Deutsche Post were held up as possible models to follow. Hooper said both companies had begun "radical restructuring" of their networks in the early 1990s. As a result, TNT made an operating profit of £500m and Deutsche Post £1.6bn from their mail operations last year, while Royal Mail suffered an operating loss of £3m.

"

It makes you wonder how much profit we would have posted if the ar*eholes in power hadn't opened the door to liberalisation before the rest of europe. And that would be without the "radical restructuring" that TNT & Deutsche post have done and are being heralded as such wonderful companies by those same said ar*eholes

[k979aaa]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/2 ... on-cruddas

Mandelson backed the report's call for a "strategic partnership" with one or more private sector companies "with demonstrable experience in transforming a major business... in circumstances comparable to those now faced by Royal Mail". The profit-making Dutch company TNT has expressed an interest and it and Germany's Deutsche Post were held up as possible models to follow. Hooper said both companies had begun "radical restructuring" of their networks in the early 1990s. As a result, TNT made an operating profit of £500m and Deutsche Post £1.6bn from their mail operations last year, while Royal Mail suffered an operating loss of £3m.

"

It makes you wonder how much profit we would have posted if the ar*eholes in power hadn't opened the door to liberalisation before the rest of europe. And that would be without the "radical restructuring" that TNT & Deutsche post have done and are being heralded as such wonderful companies by those same said ar*eholes

And how many letter's did T.N.T and DHL actully deliver to each and every household?. You are quite right "Broxi51" they are ar*eholes and don't understand anything just like the CEO :cfo and the CHAIRMAN :lfo and the GOVENMENT :mfo !. Makes me sick

[Yahoorsur]

Here's a very good demolition of partial privitisation.
http://neftriplecrunch.wordpress.com/20 ... lass-post/

[Yahoorsur]

And here's another
http://www.compassonline.org.uk/news/item.asp?n=3543 a new vision that is.

[fmrPOSTIE]

Would profit from the banking / financial side of POL really be enough to fund investment in Royal Mail, i doubt it. Its a good idea, dont get me wrong, but the revenue generated from this should go back into the network and possibly open up new outlets. Rather than going into the letters side. Im personally thinking of withdrawing all of my money from my high street bank as and when the Post Office come up with a current account. I dont trust these tossers in the banking world no more, things are going to get alot worse. I'D rather have my money in a PO as the transactions that i hope to make will play a part in keeping them open.

On Royal Mails future, yes there are many senior managers who cant organise a piss up in a brewery but take a look at Parcelforce, it went from a total disaster losing millions to making a £5m profit....and all done within Royal Mail. They closed countless depots to restructure, so it can be done.

[BELIAL]

Well now Postconn has been shown the door I guess it's regulatory framework will be defunct as well. So time to pay your way DSA providers ,why should a public service prop up your failing enterprises with cash handouts.
Perhaps a more crucial point is how an unelected individual ,nil votes for,no mandate ,can be placed in a ministerial position and unilaterally overturn Govt. policy; that must surely raise some questions about the state of our democracy if nothing does

[fmrPOSTIE]

Well now Postconn has been shown the door I guess it's regulatory framework will be defunct as well. So time to pay your way DSA providers ,why should a public service prop up your failing enterprises with cash handouts.
Perhaps a more crucial point is how an unelected individual ,nil votes for,no mandate ,can be placed in a ministerial position and unilaterally overturn Govt. policy; that must surely raise some questions about the state of our democracy if nothing does

I know......thats Peter Mandelson for ya' though! But look at whats happened to him everytime he has been in a Labour Govt, he's been given the boot! Most MPs on the Labour side dispise him.

[k979aaa]

Well now Postconn has been shown the door I guess it's regulatory framework will be defunct as well. So time to pay your way DSA providers ,why should a public service prop up your failing enterprises with cash handouts.
Perhaps a more crucial point is how an unelected individual ,nil votes for,no mandate ,can be placed in a ministerial position and unilaterally overturn Govt. policy; that must surely raise some questions about the state of our democracy if nothing does

I know......thats Peter Mandelson for ya' though! But look at whats happened to him everytime he has been in a Labour Govt, he's been given the boot! Most MPs on the Labour side dispise him.

And yet he keep's coming back like the dose of herpes he is. :mfo

[Edward Hunter]

Its unbelievable really, that a labour government could come up with a motion, totally at odds to its maifesto, to part privatise Royal Mail, which will split the party and be carried through the commons by the opposition!! You really couldnt make that up.

[pinstripe]

It makes you wonder how much profit we would have posted if the ar*eholes in power hadn't opened the door to liberalisation before the rest of europe. And that would be without the "radical restructuring" that TNT & Deutsche post have done and are being heralded as such wonderful companies by those same said ar*eholes

Have either the Germans or the Dutch opened up their own markets to competition yet? Seems strange that they, especially the Dutch constantly complain about the restraints placed on them in the UK and Germany, when they are protecting their own core area and are able to 'radically restructure' while maintaining their own domestic monopoly.
Let's face it we have been played for mugs by the money lovers, and the state of the whole world's economy has been well and truly f***** up by these same people and yet we still have to watch as they continue to rip us off.

[stokes11eg]

F

It makes you wonder how much profit we would have posted if the ar*eholes in power hadn't opened the door to liberalisation before the rest of europe. And that would be without the "radical restructuring" that TNT & Deutsche post have done and are being heralded as such wonderful companies by those same said ar*eholes

Have either the Germans or the Dutch opened up their own markets to competition yet? Seems strange that they, especially the Dutch constantly complain about the restraints placed on them in the UK and Germany, when they are protecting their own core area and are able to 'radically restructure' while maintaining their own domestic monopoly.
Let's face it we have been played for mugs by the money lovers, and the state of the whole world's economy has been well and truly f***** up by these same people and yet we still have to watch as they continue to rip us off.

funny how Managment keep going on about profit--- my son travels the world,, and we still have one of
the best services going, despite what some people might think.

[bexhil palace]

I recently had a very interesting conversation with a local councilor, who had spent some time
in holland.He was amazed that RM are using the dutch PO as an example as to how they see our service
developing in the future.He assured me that as far as the dutch public are concerned, the service is a complete
shambles.There is a mass drive towards employing immigrants on minimum wage, with no union representation
and poor working conditions.He also stated that there are plans to introduce a pay as you deliver scheme, which entails
getting X amount of money for each item delivered.
I'm not saying these plans will ever be proposed for our service, but the fact that RM seem to be so enamered
with the dutch PO,is in my opinion very worrying.

[BELIAL]

I recently had a very interesting conversation with a local councilor, who had spent some time
in holland.He was amazed that RM are using the dutch PO as an example as to how they see our service
developing in the future.He assured me that as far as the dutch public are concerned, the service is a complete
shambles.There is a mass drive towards employing immigrants on minimum wage, with no union representation
and poor working conditions.He also stated that there are plans to introduce a pay as you deliver scheme, which entails
getting X amount of money for each item delivered.
I'm not saying these plans will ever be proposed for our service, but the fact that RM seem to be so enamered
with the dutch PO,is in my opinion very worrying.

There is a very good reason for that. It is said that the Dutch delivery model was initially designed by RM,subsequently shared with TNT to act as a trial area/testing ground. Seems q.of s. collapses but profits zoom and poor pr is maintained at manageable levels,coupled with nil competition like here, the trial is viewed as a total success .