Billy Hayes Speech to AGM of Leeds No 1 Branch

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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GOLDEN GATE PUB
LOWER BRIGGATE
LEEDS

I am grateful to Dave Walton and your Branch Committee for allowing me to address you today.

The fight against privatisation of Royal Mail is at a critical stage.

As you know, Lord Mandelson and the Government have given a clear indication of their determination to press ahead with the part sale of the company.


________________________________________


This is in flat contradiction to the commitment made in Labour’s 2005 Election Manifesto when a promise was made to the electorate not to privatise Royal Mail.


Ingeniously Government spokes people are claiming that if there is a minority share sale to a private company then Royal Mail remains in the public sector.


No one really believes this – and certainly the Tories had a fine time ridiculing this suggestion when it came up in Parliament last week.

But the suggestion is a way of covering up the
embarrassment Government Ministers feel at so obviously breaking from the Manifesto commitment and the policy adopted by the 2008 Labour Party conference.

That conference agreed: “a wholly publicly owned Royal Mail Group.”

So a 1% share scale or a 100% share scale equally break with Party policy.

But there is no doubt what the result of a minority share scale will be.

The Hooper Report is explicit that the direction of Management must go to a private company. Mandelson has said there is not the gene pool in British Management capable of providing leadership for Royal Mail.
________________________________________

So both Hooper and Mandelson are suggesting that a minority shareholder will have complete control over Royal Mail operations.

The most favoured candidate is the company running the Dutch postal service - TNT.

We also know that Deutsche Post are interested. And there is some talk that a private equity company, CVC, are interested.

TNT have just announced a 37% drop in profits for the last quarter in 2008.

This was the same quarter that Royal Mail increased their profits. Perhaps Royal Mail should be offering advice to TNT.

________________________________________

TNT also have an interesting record on labour relations.

In Germany, they pulled out of the postal market because the German Government had the audacity to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers.

One of the ways TNT tried to operate in Germany was with a company Union. Management set up a Union inside their German subsidiary. The Chief Executive of TNT then became the General Secretary of the Union. It is incredible that they thought they would get away with this.

TNT’s prices are also much higher than those of Royal Mail.
________________________________________

They deliver 100g first class letters at nearly three times the price of Royal Mail.

They deliver 50g letters at twice the price of Royal Mail.

And they don’t operate in a liberalised market like Royal Mail either. TNT has a monopoly for letters of 50g and less.

Now if this is the best candidate – then what is the real case for privatisation.

Well it simply comes down to political prejudice – the Minister wants privatisation because private business is always better than the public sector.

________________________________________

Given what’s happening at the moment in the banks and in the car industry and in many other industries – the private sector looks in a pretty bad way really.

But when did evidence get in the way of a good old fashioned prejudice?


So, we have a very serious fight on our hands.


To date things are going pretty well.


We have an Early Day Motion in Parliament which has 139 signatures – including 120 Labour MPs.
________________________________________

This is a problem for the Government, as they will not want to be dependent upon Tory votes to carry their policy through.

Of course we know we can’t rely upon the Tories or the Liberal Democrats, both of whom have a policy of supporting privatisation.

That does not mean they will necessarily support the Government’s proposal. But last week in Parliament they did.

We have an agreement of support from all the other Unions affiliated to the Labour Party – this includes the biggest and most influential Unions like UNITE, UNISON and the GMB.


________________________________________

We have a broad coalition of support building up outside of the Labour movement – there is a petition on the No. 10 website which is attracting attention.


In addition – Compass – a very influential policy organisation – are building a coalition of organisations outside of the Unions and Labour Party to oppose privatisation.


There are many steps ahead yet – we haven’t even seen any proposed legislation yet.


There are other questions we are pressing with Government.
________________________________________

Firstly, the Government must deal with the pensions deficit.

This is a result of the holiday from contributions that the Government allowed for Management.

Postal workers kept making contributions throughout those 13 years, but Management didn’t.

Now, if the Government honours its responsibilities, then Royal Mail will be in a much healthier position.

The deficit means that Royal Mail has to pay an extra £280 million a year for the next 15 years.

________________________________________

If the Government takes over this debt – then Royal Mail has that money to improve services, invest in the industry and improve postal workers terms and conditions.

So there really isn’t even an economic argument for privatisation if they resolve the pensions problem.

This then is a very important issue which Hooper reported had to be dealt with.

His suggestion was to nationalise the debt, ie pass the debt over to the Government to deal with. But to privatise the profit, ie hand over the profits of Royal Mail to TNT or whoever.


________________________________________


Also we are looking for a new start in industrial relations both with Management and through Government.


Management cannot modernise the industry effectively without the support of the workforce and the Union.


We want a new agreement with Management to ensure that the next generation of machinery, and new work methods, are introduced through negotiations, and with regards to your needs.


________________________________________

Immediately then that’s three big questions for
us to resolve:

• prevent privatisation
• resolve the pension deficit
• secure a new modernisation agreement with Management

With your help and involvement, they are all possible.

Thanks for listening.

Posted by Billy Hayes | @ Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:05:58 +0000

[stokes11eg]

http://www.billyhayes.co.uk/permalink.p ... 37_0_1_0_M

GOLDEN GATE PUB
LOWER BRIGGATE
LEEDS

I am grateful to Dave Walton and your Branch Committee for allowing me to address you today.

The fight against privatisation of Royal Mail is at a critical stage.

As you know, Lord Mandelson and the Government have given a clear indication of their determination to press ahead with the part sale of the company.


________________________________________


This is in flat contradiction to the commitment made in Labour’s 2005 Election Manifesto when a promise was made to the electorate not to privatise Royal Mail.


Ingeniously Government spokes people are claiming that if there is a minority share sale to a private company then Royal Mail remains in the public sector.


No one really believes this – and certainly the Tories had a fine time ridiculing this suggestion when it came up in Parliament last week.

But the suggestion is a way of covering up the
embarrassment Government Ministers feel at so obviously breaking from the Manifesto commitment and the policy adopted by the 2008 Labour Party conference.

That conference agreed: “a wholly publicly owned Royal Mail Group.”

So a 1% share scale or a 100% share scale equally break with Party policy.

But there is no doubt what the result of a minority share scale will be.

The Hooper Report is explicit that the direction of Management must go to a private company. Mandelson has said there is not the gene pool in British Management capable of providing leadership for Royal Mail.
________________________________________

So both Hooper and Mandelson are suggesting that a minority shareholder will have complete control over Royal Mail operations.

The most favoured candidate is the company running the Dutch postal service - TNT.

We also know that Deutsche Post are interested. And there is some talk that a private equity company, CVC, are interested.

TNT have just announced a 37% drop in profits for the last quarter in 2008.

This was the same quarter that Royal Mail increased their profits. Perhaps Royal Mail should be offering advice to TNT.

________________________________________

TNT also have an interesting record on labour relations.

In Germany, they pulled out of the postal market because the German Government had the audacity to introduce a minimum wage for postal workers.

One of the ways TNT tried to operate in Germany was with a company Union. Management set up a Union inside their German subsidiary. The Chief Executive of TNT then became the General Secretary of the Union. It is incredible that they thought they would get away with this.

TNT’s prices are also much higher than those of Royal Mail.
________________________________________

They deliver 100g first class letters at nearly three times the price of Royal Mail.

They deliver 50g letters at twice the price of Royal Mail.

And they don’t operate in a liberalised market like Royal Mail either. TNT has a monopoly for letters of 50g and less.

Now if this is the best candidate – then what is the real case for privatisation.

Well it simply comes down to political prejudice – the Minister wants privatisation because private business is always better than the public sector.

________________________________________

Given what’s happening at the moment in the banks and in the car industry and in many other industries – the private sector looks in a pretty bad way really.

But when did evidence get in the way of a good old fashioned prejudice?


So, we have a very serious fight on our hands.


To date things are going pretty well.


We have an Early Day Motion in Parliament which has 139 signatures – including 120 Labour MPs.
________________________________________

This is a problem for the Government, as they will not want to be dependent upon Tory votes to carry their policy through.

Of course we know we can’t rely upon the Tories or the Liberal Democrats, both of whom have a policy of supporting privatisation.

That does not mean they will necessarily support the Government’s proposal. But last week in Parliament they did.

We have an agreement of support from all the other Unions affiliated to the Labour Party – this includes the biggest and most influential Unions like UNITE, UNISON and the GMB.


________________________________________

We have a broad coalition of support building up outside of the Labour movement – there is a petition on the No. 10 website which is attracting attention.


In addition – Compass – a very influential policy organisation – are building a coalition of organisations outside of the Unions and Labour Party to oppose privatisation.


There are many steps ahead yet – we haven’t even seen any proposed legislation yet.


There are other questions we are pressing with Government.
________________________________________

Firstly, the Government must deal with the pensions deficit.

This is a result of the holiday from contributions that the Government allowed for Management.

Postal workers kept making contributions throughout those 13 years, but Management didn’t.

Now, if the Government honours its responsibilities, then Royal Mail will be in a much healthier position.

The deficit means that Royal Mail has to pay an extra £280 million a year for the next 15 years.

________________________________________

If the Government takes over this debt – then Royal Mail has that money to improve services, invest in the industry and improve postal workers terms and conditions.

So there really isn’t even an economic argument for privatisation if they resolve the pensions problem.

This then is a very important issue which Hooper reported had to be dealt with.

His suggestion was to nationalise the debt, ie pass the debt over to the Government to deal with. But to privatise the profit, ie hand over the profits of Royal Mail to TNT or whoever.


________________________________________


Also we are looking for a new start in industrial relations both with Management and through Government.


Management cannot modernise the industry effectively without the support of the workforce and the Union.


We want a new agreement with Management to ensure that the next generation of machinery, and new work methods, are introduced through negotiations, and with regards to your needs.


________________________________________

Immediately then that’s three big questions for
us to resolve:

• prevent privatisation
• resolve the pension deficit
• secure a new modernisation agreement with Management

With your help and involvement, they are all possible.

Thanks for listening.

Posted by Billy Hayes | @ Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:05:58 +0000

Sorry, billy, too little too late.I still believe that in not fighting from the start to protect our original contracts.
and encouraging us to accept so many changes over the years, you have allowed this to happen.

[stokes11eg]

Its all well and good giving this message to CWU members! (We all know this FFS) Why aint he telling the PUBLIC day in day out? If you want a thing to flop Billy just go the way your going, and you Dave and the rest of HQ will lose this for us the members yet again as sure as night follows day!

:cfo Hear-hear

[dvbuk55]

I didn't see any mention of disaffiliation in this speech - perhaps he should be driving the message home - no play Gordy no pay and no support.

[BELIAL]

Don't mean to be harsh ,but the chap is never going to set the world on fire, is he?

[johnnyp]

Don't mean to be harsh ,but the chap is never going to set the world on fire, is he?

Agree,its best to let Wardy do the talking

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Don't mean to be harsh ,but the chap is never going to set the world on fire, is he?

Agree,its best to let Wardy do the talking

seconded - he has a lot better media presence than Billy.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

IWe need someone with brains and charm!

Please not Tony Blair- even if I don't like him I have to admit he has both. I will always take conviction over appearance.

[BELIAL]

Who?

[mitzi]

we had someone with brains and charm but he was sacked because the southerners and mailcentres didnt like his version of the truth. the chickens are now coming home to roost.

[stokes11eg]

we had someone with brains and charm but he was sacked because the southerners and mailcentres didnt like his version of the truth. the chickens are now coming home to roost.

Are we talking about Keggie here?

[baldrick]

it wasn't just 'southerners and mailcentres' which were shafted by thw Way Forward,
And he was even more up the backside of New Labour than Billy, so he would probably
be supporting privatisation of RM. :mfo

[stokes11eg]

it wasn't just 'southerners and mailcentres' which were shafted by thw Way Forward,
And he was even more up the backside of New Labour than Billy, so he would probably
be supporting privatisation of RM. :mfo

Maybe so-but when billy was voted in I remember our rep. saying watch out for Hayes, because he was really
militant? EH?

[baldrick]

Maybe so-but when billy was voted in I remember our rep. saying watch out for Hayes, because he was really militant? EH?

If only

[TrueBlueTerrier]

IWe need someone with brains and charm!

Please not Tony Blair- even if I don't like him I have to admit he has both. I will always take conviction over appearance.

Sorry but whats the point of picking a General (or Air Marshal) to lose? We as CWU members need now more than ever someone to lead a campaign to convince the public! Not us cause we already know about the rightness of our service and jobs! BHs couldnt fight his way out of a wet paper bag. DW most surely could and proberly would do a few papermen as well, but would p*ss of at least half the nation if not more! We need someone that is articulate enough to get a good strong message across without alienating the public of the UK. I aint talking about a leadership thing just getting OUR message across in a smart way that may get the result we all want to save our service and jobs and the fact that that someone would do very well after winning such a campaign is a bonus. Dont forget it was BH and DW that gave us defeat from the jaws of victory in 2007! Still want to trust them? Well i dont and DW has done NOTHING since except a few photo calls and even less rousing speaches since to convince me otherwise both of them have done NOTHING to improve the lot of posties in the last few years and i just want someone that can.

Not disagreeing with you at all "linkinpark" in fact I agree with everything you said that I have quoted. I do think Dave Ward should be given more of the lead in the press and TV interviews as he does have the best presence out of the two. We need to get the best out of what we have and at the moment that is Billy writing the speeches and Dave reading them.

My point was that yes we need a good PR man in charge and a strong deputy but we need some substance and conviction behind it, and I used Tony Blair as a point. I firmly believe Tony Blair was in no way a conviction politician, he was and remains imho, in politics for the power and prestige it brings, he did not do it to improve the common mans working life, merely to improve his own bank balance. His is an egotist who wants to be remembered, but I don't think he has the same memories in mind that I have when I think about him.