Paul Clays, of the CWU- Royal Mail warning

[Geezer]

http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4551242. ... l_warning/

Tuesday 18th August 2009


A UNION leader has warned that industrial action by postal workers will hit York unless Royal Mail agrees to negotiate over proposed changes in working practices.

A fresh wave of strikes by thousands of postal workers, including many elsewhere in Yorkshire, took place yesterday as industrial relations continue to worsen ahead of a national ballot for action.

Paul Clays, spokesman for the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the current strike did not affect York, but members remained concerned about the future of the city’s sorting office in Leeman Road if national proposals for a rationalisation of Royal Mail went ahead.

“Industrial action will be coming to York – it’s inevitable – unless the Royal Mail agrees to sit down around the table and negotiate with the union,” he said.

The union threatened industrial action last autumn over plans to transfer the sorting of second-class mail from York to Leeds, which many workers saw as the forerunner to the transfer of first-class and other mail and the eventual closure of the Leeman Road offices, with the loss of more than 350 jobs.

The second-class mail transfer eventually went through but in July, the union claimed Royal Mail intended diverting most York letters to Leeds for sorting during the summer, before dropping the proposals at the last minute following opposition.

One postal worker told The Press then that staff believed that if the mail went to Leeds, it would not return to York, and the Leeman Road office would be closed within a year. Royal Mail said then it had no plans to transfer first-class mail processing to Leeds.

A spokeswoman for the company said today it urged all its staff not to take strike action over changes which were covered by a 2007 Agreement on Pay and Modernisation, which the CWU leadership had signed in the presence of the TUC.

“They are now reneging on that agreement in a way that clearly hurts our customers and our people and damages Royal Mail,” she said. “The union claims to support modernisation, yet acts to destroy it.”

[DirtyHarry]

And "destroy it", we must.

[Ahebban]

A spokeswoman for the company said today it urged all its staff not to take strike action over changes which were covered by a 2007 Agreement on Pay and Modernisation, which the CWU leadership had signed in the presence of the TUC.

“They are now reneging on that agreement in a way that clearly hurts our customers and our people and damages Royal Mail,” she said. “The union claims to support modernisation, yet acts to destroy it.”

We are honouring the 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement at my DO. We have lapsed duties during the summer period again this year (phase 2), we try and cover absences where we have the bodies available and the workload allows (phase 3)and make savings and be as efficient as we can.

Only yesterday RM stated that urgent negotiation was required with the CWU over phase 4 of the 2007 Pay & Mod Agmnt!

Further to LTB 689/09 in respect of the above, I can report there have been two further meetings last week with the business. Within these discussions the company fully accepted that urgent negotiations need to take place on the principle issues that were due to be concluded under the Phase 4 of the Pay & Modernisation Agreement.

The above paragraph was taken from the latest LTB available on http://www.cwu.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Phase 4 was due for completion and implementation, where applicable, during the lifetime of the current national agreement. By RM's own admission they have walked away from the agreement and have chosen instead to concentrate on their own modernisation agenda as and when it suits them.

Posties across the country are paying the price for RM's failure to budget offices correctly, year on year. Enough is enough as far as I am concerned. RM must be called to account by the CWU as government clearly doesn't care, and negotiate a new or revised 2007 Agreement that includes ALL aspects of modernisation and introduction of new technology in unison. CWU members are not stupid! They need to have job security, a reasonable wage, a pension fund they can look forward too. They too realise the business has to change how it goes about its business or suffer the consequences. But that change has to come through discussion and negotiation not through using executive action every time to force its agenda through.

Only then will stability be brought to the business. Only then will business customers and the public have confidence in using Royal Mail as its first choice carrier for letters and parcels.

If you care ...
... about the public service we should be offering to business and public alike;
... about having a voice in how RM operates;
... about job security;
... about earning a reasonable wage;
... about your future pension ...

then VOTE YES in the upcoming ballot!