CWU NATIONAL BRIEFING 16/1/09 RESPONSE TO THE HOOPER

[Geezer]

CWU NATIONAL BRIEFING 16/1/09 – RESPONSE TO THE HOOPER REVIEW AND PART PRIVATISATION PROPOSAL

REPORT TO REPS AND MEMBERS

A national briefing of all Branches was held in London on 16 January.

It was stated by Billy Hayes and Dave Ward that both the political fight and the fight within Royal Mail to ensure national agreements are honoured, needed to go hand in hand.

Also attending the meeting were John Grogan MP who is working with the CWU in Parliament and Neil Lawson Director of Compass – a left wing think tank with excellent links to senior politicians within New Labour.

1. National Political Situation

Without doubt there was a genuine feeling of betrayal by the Government. It was explained that on the same day as the Hooper Review recommendations came out, Government were supportive of everything in it.

And yet, in June last year at the Labour Party National Policy Forum it was agreed by all that Royal Mail Group remain wholly owned and integrated in the public sector.

In September 2008 at Labour Party Conference the then Minister for Industry John Hutton said the policy on Royal Mail “was fixed” ie no sell off.

The gloves are now off and we must now do everything in the next 3 or 4 months to stop this happening.

Why ?

Because commercial interest will drive down terms and conditions for CWU members. Remember, the claim is we are 25% overpaid. Once TNT get their hands on Royal Mail there will be no stopping them. TNT have mail centres of their own and staff of their own who are on less pay. This will be a race to the bottom, and all to ensure that big business can post mail cheaply.

Is Privatisation needed ?

No. It is clear that once the pension liabilities are taken over by Government, some £280million will be freed up every year. If agreed, a change to the regulatory regime will also free up cash eg no more subsidising the competition via cheap DSA.

To date only £600million out of £1.2billion from the Government has been invested. This means we remain less competitive. We would argue this is a deliberate strategy to ensure Royal Mail looks in a poor shape. Where’s the rest of the money gone then ?

There is an Early Day Motion which to date has 91 signatures. More will sign up. Mandelson has already accepted that we have clout to stop what he wants. He is now threatening to “walk away” from the pension issue if we don’t agree to the sell off. He is threatening us !

You will be needed to help – don’t be apathetic. Don’t sit back and leave it to others !

2. Industrial Relations in Royal Mail

It is clear that across the UK, management are breaking national agreements and demanding budget cuts year on year of between 8% and 11%.

Despite efforts to meet Royal Mail nationally, they are refusing to sit down in a sensible fashion to ensure stable industrial relations.

It was the case that some Branches (ourselves included) believed that CWUHQ had not got a grip on the situation and had allowed matters to drift in the hope that politically something would be sorted out. The Bristol Branch were very vocal on this point and stated as much. They explained that the Government could not be blamed for the way we were dealing with the Pay & Modernisation Agreement for instance or the Mail Centre closures issue.

In short Royal Mail believe they don’t need to engage nationally whilst locally change can be forced through and whilst 1000s of postal staff run around carving up duties – why would we be able to get an agreement against that background !?

It was stated however by the National Officers, that there would now be a policy of no agreement locally to proposals which are purely down to budget targets. The Branch will be dealing with this issue carefully and in line with guidance from CWUHQ.

In any event, is anyone really up for cutting hours to meet a budget, when they know those hours aren’t there to come out in the first place ?

In respect of Mail Centres, talks are taking place, but these do not seem to be going well and it maybe that all we get is an improved framework agreement with better personnel terms for those who are displaced. We will have to wait and see.

Overall, the picture was grim. Sooner or later, things will explode again if nothing changes.

3. Conclusion

Whilst things do not look good at the moment, we must keep positive. We have all the arguments and research on our side. It is us who want modernisation and us who want a positive vision for a great public service , not beholden to private commercial interest, which looks after and values its employees.

That is the goal we must fight for. We will have no excuses if we don’t try to fulfil this.


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[POSTMAN]

What branch is this,pm if you need to.

[Big Daz]

A branch with good report writers,like the bit about Bristol branch

[Geezer]

A branch with good report writers,like the bit about Bristol branch

Close but not close enough

[Big Daz]

A branch in the SW Region or perhaps a regional report?

[Geezer]

A branch in the SW Region or perhaps a regional report?

Now that's a big area you need to narrow that down a bit