A statement from the London Divisional Committee

[Martin Walsh]

Yesterdays action was rock solid right across London with bigger picket lines reported then in 2007. In addtion the Demo at Croziers offices on Victoria Embankment was well attended and made enough noise to force Royal Mail`s lead comms person to come out and of course the police to quickly turn up.Thanks to Dave Ward and Kate Hoey MP turning up.

The London Divisonal Committee would like to thank all members who supported yesterdays strike action. The action yesterday was to activate the ballot. Next Monday the ballot papers go out again for the Mount , Nine Elms and Rathbone place.The result will be known on 30th June and we then will announce a programme of stike action.

We stood down picket lines yesterday to keep things legal. But the message has been passed to those Branch`s this is the only time we will do so. They either join us in the fight or we will not stand them down next time.

In addition it is quite clear that the Government is backing Royal Mail and allowing them to attack terms and conditions within Royal Mail. We in London will give them till the end of this month to force Royal Mail to agree a National Agreement or we will start ballot London members on wether they fund the Labour Party. We know this will bring us at risk of discpline from the National Union but sod it we are not going to stand by and fund the labour party whilst they allow Royal Mail to attack the workforce in the most hostile manner we have ever seen.

Thanks for all your support but now we want to see that support turned into more ballots. Forget about a national ballot it will not happen due to the employment laws the only thing left to us is to ballot workplace by workplace. Its time this union fought as one.If we dont win this then this union and our conditions will be finished.

[mailman71]

i said 2 years ago that we should stop funding the labour party,as a labour voter for 35 years and worked in royal mail for over 36 years this decision did.nt come easy but the present new labour have shafted us once to many times.
the tories thought about privatisation but id'nt do it but mandleson is going down that road,we are one of the few big unions left able to stand up for trade unionists rights but we are now having our rights diluted by the party that we have supported.
labour will lose the next election and when the tories get in they will go hunting for the unions that stood against them in the past and we will be near the top of their hit list.

[borders]

Dingo, why wont a national ballet happen ?

[Martin Walsh]

Borders Royal Mail have hired a anti union legal firm to make sure they challenge as many ballots as possible.

Fact is that we simply have not got the membership right in every branch in the country and Royal Mail would tie us up in knots. Whereas in a workplace ballot we can get the numbers right in line with the 1992 Legal requirements. Remember Royal Mail in the 2007 pay and mod ballot they put in a challenge at the end of dispute and would have got an injuction.

Believe me the amount of legal stuff they threw at London is amazing but it would be even more if it was a national ballot. For instance under the act once the result is known it has to be displayed in every office within 24 hours otherwise they can apply for an injunction demanding a reballot. We have 1500 different offices in the UK many without a rep there is no way we will have this done and Royal Mail will identfy and take photos of those offices where the notice has not been put up.

That is just one of an hundred diffternt problems we would have.

[Martin Walsh]

Leighton saw challenging ballots as a sign of weakness so it was only at the end of the Pay and Mod that they challenged our action and got an injunction but we got a settlement in any case.

Some of the other legal issues are as a result of recent legal cases and have become case law. If you recall when they challenged Liverpool`s mail centre it was on two accounts what someone said in a radio interview and that the notice was not displayed on the notice board which the 1992 employment laws state that the union has to inform the result.

It is a legal minefield and the firm which they are taking advice from are leading anti union firm who specialises in find loop holes to challenge ballots or at least question them and reserve the right to claim damages from loss of bussness against indiuduals and the cwu.

[borders]

thanks for the reply Dingo, i guess you mean it is now a legal minefield to hold a national strike ? i honestly cant believe that, what a state of affairs

[andy2007]

Sadly Borders, he's right. But that doesn't mean that it isn't possible.

[jockstrapp]

Am I to understand all the legal people that the CWU use are not very clever? How can they not advise the union on what and what not to do regarding these so called loopholes

[Martin Walsh]

Jockstrap they do but the records department and our branch`s records do need checking. Royal Mail in theory could send the union a disc every single day on who is paying check off and if we have not amended our records then the numbers who we are balloting and who Royal Mail say are paying check off will be different and therefore wrong.

The PEC accepted a motion from London at Conference calling for an unrgent review on all aspects of how we conduct Industrial action ballots including advice from our employment specialists who are Pattison Brewer.

I can only say from my experience of dealing with the London stuff how complex and frustrating the law is on a wide range of issues and how inept are a lot of the unions current pratices on how we conduct ballots.

[baldrick]

The anti-Union legislation was intended to make strikes virtually impossible to
be lawfully conducted. Employers have been reluctant to use it in the past, but
it is now being used more and more, mainly by public sector employers.

[singingpostman]

If strikes are becoming a legal minefield, then why not just withdraw all overtime ? it would surely be just as effective.

[Big Daz]

If strikes are becoming a legal minefield, then why not just withdraw all overtime ? it would surely be just as effective.

Possibly


99% of overtime is day off working at my D.O which in turn is due to sick leave levels.

[Big Daz]

Membership list for my D.O is a bit skew wif due to transfers.

Ive handed all those who have transferred a letter asking them to update their details to the branch.

Time to get these mbrs to provide their details so they can be allocated to the right office.

The DOM is well aware that one mbr is still registered with his previous branch.

[Martin Walsh]

An overtime ban still needs the sanction of an industrial action ballot. Any overtime ban without an industrial action ballot will be in breach of the employment laws and will allow Royal Mail to get an injunction which if the union does not repudate will mean they are in contempt of court and face a fine. The last time the cwu was in 1992 and we were fined in excess of 20 grand and Royal Mail `s costs.

If the union does repuidate then those who are doing an overtime ban are in breach of contact and can be selectivly dismissed with recourse to a tribunal. Hences the recent refinery dispute.

[DGP1]

I've been on a work to rule for the past 2 years and I'm slowly getting others to join me and I really think RM would have a hard time arguing that I was taking IA (not to mention the others).