Royal Mail urges end to local strikes

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail today called on the Communication Workers Union to end its series of local strikes and to resume its involvement with change and modernisation throughout the company, as agreed by the union leadership under the existing Pay and Modernisation agreement in 2007.

More than 90% of Royal Mail’s people will be working normally on each of the coming days of local strike action and the company will continue to take every possible step to mitigate the impact of strikes in the areas where the CWU is taking action.

Royal Mail has met the union leadership this week in the latest of more than 60 meetings over recent months, and has again called on the CWU to end the disruption to customers’ services and to lift its ban on local representatives working with the company to implement essential, fair and reasonable changes to modernise the business and improve efficiency to address the fall in mail volumes.

This week’s meeting is a further attempt by Royal Mail to persuade the union to engage with phase 4 of the 2007 Pay and Modernisation agreement which the union signed up to in the presence of the TUC. At the moment, however, it is clear that the union’s real focus is on damaging customer confidence, undermining the Universal Postal service, and on looking for any route to block the change and modernisation it claims to support.

Mail volumes are falling by around 10% year on year in the UK, just as they are across the world:

• For example, the US this year reported annual volume declines of 14%, as did Norway, while the Netherlands reported a fall of 6%.
• Every 1% of lost mail volumes in the UK costs Royal Mail £70 million in lost revenue

Loss of traffic and revenue on this scale makes change inevitable and modernisation essential - and lip service from a union actually intent on strikes is simply not good enough, either for our customers or our people.


Paul Tolhurst, Royal Mail’s Operations Director, said, "It is now more clear than ever that the CWU is focussing all its efforts on strike action and political posturing. Their claimed support for change is no more than lip service but their determination to damage services and undermine the future health of the business and the Universal Service is increasing. Royal Mail is getting on with modernisation in an entirely fair and reasonable way which is completely in line with our existing agreement with the union on flexible working practices."

The company has already condemned the CWU both for striking locally over much-needed modernisation and change which has already been successfully implemented by our people in the majority of offices around the UK, and for its threat of a national ballot demanding strikes even in those offices which have already successfully completed the changes.

We continue to work extremely hard to make the union’s leadership realise the scale and urgency of the changes we need to make but it is increasingly clear that the CWU simply refuses to believe that mail volumes are declining by around 10% annually despite the clear evidence of this in the UK and in every other postal market around the world. Royal Mail’s future rests on providing customers with high quality, reliable services at great value-for-money and it’s time the union realised that customers have a choice in a market where there are not just many rival carriers but rival electronic means of communication.

In London, where the vast majority of local industrial action has been concentrated, the union has actually issued instructions to their branch representatives in London and in a number of other offices not to co-operate with Royal Mail over the introduction of new equipment and changes in working practices which their leadership signed up to in 2007. Some examples of the union’s resistance to modernisation include:

• Writing to branches saying their policy is not to cooperate with change despite their public statements to the contrary.
• Not working all the hours for which people are paid. A significant number of delivery postmen in some units in London complete their walks up to two hours before their scheduled duty finish each day yet are unwilling to help out with other tasks for the remainder of the working day. The 2007 agreement set out that people should work the hours for which they are paid.
• During the summer when mail volumes are low there is less work to do. By asking each delivery postman simply to deliver to one or two extra streets, some of their colleagues’ summer holidays can be covered without overtime. Many London delivery units refuse to cover additional streets.
• Refusal to work to revised delivery routes generated by computer aided planning, which is used in postal organisations around the world and is aimed at making us more efficient.
• A refusal to accept the use of more part time workers in delivery to enable us to be more flexible and match the workload, even though we have guaranteed that no-one who works full-time will be forced to go part-time.
• In Mail Centres, there are demarcation lines which date back decades - so, for example, Distribution drivers refuse to work in the mail centre even when they have no driving to do but there is work in the mail centre which needs attention.

Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State, has recently made clear his view that the union are "essentially boycotting the agreed processes for making change in the Royal Mail" and that the union must change its attitude to change and implement the 2007 agreement on Pay and Modernisation. Despite this week’s further local action, we are again urging the CWU to work with us to honour that agreement and help modernise Royal Mail and protect the Universal Service on which so many individuals and businesses depend.

Notes to Editors

Detailed customer advice on Royal Mail’s contingency plans during local strike action, which include the use of management volunteers, to provide as many services as possible in areas affected by strike action can be found on the Royal Mail web site at http://www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Post Office and Parcelforce Worldwide services are unaffected by the CWU’s strike action.

Ends

Issued by Royal Mail:
100 Victoria Embankment
LONDON
EC4Y 0HQ
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[TrueBlueTerrier]

[tailfly12]

Royal Mail will always make out they are the good guys in this dispute. But people don't go out on strike for nothing. There must be something which is not right.

[dudleylicious]

I agree with teebs feckin shite

[jockstrapp]

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[pickaname]

Err...PHASE 4?

[Big Daz]

Err...PHASE 4?

Thats the stuff of myths and legends!!!!!!

[Phantom]

Absolute bollocks! £70 million per 1% so we've lost £700million??? if they say it long enough then the population will believe. Haha.

Carry on with the industrial action, we really need to hammer this s**t management/government team we have in to the ground!

[General Mannerheim]

I`ve still got my bullshit detector from Late-on great video clip message to us masses before the last strike.
My favourite is ...loud siren and then `Warning bullshit detected take precautions!`...the union should provide them free to every office to use on their WTL brainwashing crap.

[heathrow86]

Thats a Bulls**T statement from management!! Our local reps have spoken to our local managers over network 09, to see if we they could come up with some local agreement to which members would be happy with, but the managers have just shut the door and have imposed the duties by executive action!! Bet that is not published!!!!!!!!!

[k979aaa]

The very fact is if they were talking why would be so many be walking out!.

[BELIAL]

Total bull ,but the funniest thing is it seems to not only have stopped working,but to be having the opposite effect to that intended.
Looks like they cried wolf once too often, they appear to have reached the "can't fool all the people all the time" stage.
Must be hard trying to convince people that its a sunny day when the hailstones are filling their y-fronts

[DGP1]

Whilst a national ballot can let people hide behind national issues a local ballot has really affected the grass roots members, if RM would listen to us then (I really believe) most of the current problems could be avoided.