The upcoming industrial action is essential.......

[NEWS]

.....for preserving our postal service

Royal Mail doesn't need the tension of full competition


The upcoming industrial action is essential for preserving our postal service

Gregor Gall
Wednesday June 27, 2007
The Guardian

Since 1979, Royal Mail has undoubtedly fought an unceasing battle to be both "one of the last great public services" and a "commercial company" as your leader column suggested (Royal Mail: No delivery, June 22). And, yes, the strike this Friday does indicate that "postal workers are fighting change that Royal Mail insists is essential"; but it is no God-given fight.

Postal workers understand the link between decent working conditions and a decent public service. Through the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) they have organised to defend both, and the link between the two. So the battle is actually over both pay and jobs because this is about the quality of postal workers' working lives and the service they provide.

Article continues
In conducting the research for my 2003 book, The Meaning of Militancy? Postal Workers and Industrial Relations, it became clear to me how much pride postal workers invested in their jobs. Their ethos was to provide a vital universal service to all, and for them the issues of a sufficient number of workers necessary to provide a quality service became two sides of the same coin.

The current dispute does not, as you suggest, stem from "the spirit and structure of an organisation that is neither private nor public [but] caught in limbo". It stems from a neoliberal agenda pursued by Tory and Labour governments alike.

In 1988 and 1996, postal workers were forced into two national summers of strikes to defend their terms and conditions of employment. By the new millennium, they had become the most militant of the remaining highly unionised workforces. The Tories tried to privatise Royal Mail - a bid that failed in 1994. New Labour then established the postal regulator, Postcomm, in 2000 and encouraged deregulation of the postal market in advance of that required by the European Union. But just as Labour has redlined various issues in order to negotiate EU opt-outs, it could have chosen to protect one of the last great public services by doing similarly.

This would be the best way to "protect Royal Mail's public-service role", as you desire, rather than continually have the tension between this and "full competition". The public-service role, a universal service provision and fair employment cannot be provided by market mechanisms and private competition.

Take away the competition and insert the public-service ethos, and the "change that Royal Mail insists is essential" would cease to be essential. Do this, and this Friday's strike becomes unnecessary. This would be, to use your words, an "acceptable compromise". Customers and postal workers could then have confidence in the public service all year round. But none of this is even remotely possible without a fight. Indeed, as you rightly point out, Royal Mail shows "no sign of caving in".

Rather than the CWU's action only making things "worse", as you allege, its resistance could help generate wider opposition, and advance the public-service ethos. As Gordon Brown inherits a decomposing New Labour project, now is the best time to start this process.

Gregor Gall is professor of industrial relations, University of Hertfordshire

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/unions/c ... 42,00.html

[vigilante]

hail gregor.
do you want a job with us union boys.



:cfo :lfo

[IWW Fellow Worker]

hail gregor.
do you want a job with us union boys.



:cfo :lfo

Yes, you wonder why the Labour Party appoint estary English speaking idiots who dress like clowns and know nothing about the job or the notion of service when there are people about like Gregor Gall.

[F0zziebear]

If he had interviewed people from both Royal Mail and the private sector he would know that a USO is in the interests of all parties. He is right that a purely neoliberal approach doesn't work. It is a balance between what can only be provided as a public service and what can be provided in the private sector. Most if not all Mailsort 3 is not a public service, but a commercially driven communication channel. Other services are in the public's interest and therefore should be protected through regulation.

Gregor's views need to be brought into the 21st century. We are beyond criticisng neoliberalism

Wasting my breath at times

F0zz

[TrueBlueTerrier]

We are beyond criticising neoliberalism

Why ?. Surely we can criticize anything - that's how change comes about. Unless it was a personal statement which I would accept.

[F0zziebear]

Gregor's views are outdated is what I am claiming. He has obviously spent too much time couped up in his office at Hertfordshire Poly, and approached this from a purely private vs public polemic argument. That debate does not get you anywhere. We would all agree (I sincrely hope) that not all of the postal market needs to reside in the public sector. For example, the parcels market is bouyant, in private hands and has driven quality, innovation and kept prices competitive. Some of the letters market should also be determined by market forces. However, we all recognise that some streams need to be protected and therefore a method needs to be found to ensure this happens. Either the private companies pay a premium to deliver urban mail versus rural, or maybe a fixed subscription fee as part of thier licence based on their size each year. The right model has not been found yet, but ROyal Mail and others are working on this. It's time Gregor updated his research and caught up with the times.

That is all I am saying, and I reckon he is criticising something that is being resolved

Yours

F0zz

[johno47]

I totaly agree with Gregor, Royal Mail does not need full competition it serves no benefit to the public whatsoever, it only serves to increase the bank balances of foriegn companys, and at least he recognises that we are a public service, and a good one at that, too many people with an alleged new way of thinking and new ideas seem to think that competition and privatisation are the only way forward, will these people ever learn...UNITY IS STRENGTH.

[ROCKY]

in a time when the workers of this country are constantly barracked for there attitutudes, rm has a workforce that shows constant pride, goes way above what is expected off it, and does numerous little roles within the community, including the saving of many lives over the years,the role played by posties the country wide beats many of the govt expensive ideas within communities, and all for nothing, and yet we seem to be getting hounded out of existance,i have recently switched duties after a good number of years but whent back to my old duty today as a one off, and have been amazed by the comments of my customers about all the little odds and sods i did as a matter of course, many of my customers are elderly and live in rural area and have all been out too thank me today, one lady shoved a fiver in my shirt pocket saying she was sorry she didnt have a tenner to give me they all said how sorry they were to loose me,rm the govt,the competition, how the hell do you put a price on that even in the 21 st century,but sorry rm it took me ages to do the del today and that is all that would matter to you,
sorry to ramble on but im a pretty much chocked rocky today

[F0zziebear]

Rocky I agree with you. It may not seem like it at times. I worked on numerous projects in head office where the 'human' element was missed out because you could not quantify it. You can't put a value on the role you play in the community. What I am suggesting is that competition is required in certain places, but a public service is required in others. I hope Gordon Brown recognises this both in terms of Royal Mail, the NHS and education. They have spent millions maybe billions on consultants who peddle the concept of targets. They have their place but as a society what you talk about is where we take ourselves to a higher level. I managed a postman with MBE for services to the community. I could only look upto someone like that and take pride in being in his company.

Unfortunately we are currently in a difficult situation where privatisation with liberalisation is going on. I only hope that all stakeholders recognise the need to maintain the USO, but someone has to pay for it

[ROCKY]

simple answer give us complete freedom in the market place so we can set our own prices and make our own proffits whilst we remain govt owned,the uso has to change as well my idea would be to raise the price of 1st class drop the price of 2nd class but keep the avarage price,1st class would be uso 2nd class take where you are going,this would kill clear frame policy and enable 1 postie to cover more ground as the drives and paths take a lot of time on most dely,the more ground you can cover lets rm reduce staff levels and therefore save money which we all know has to happen to some extent,also i would ditch the r/d as it costs a fortune in man hours searches,time on the doorstep,money back if cant be found on search,callers office etc,i would also have a maximum distance from road to door as some customers do seem to want to make you walk as far as possible
change yes suicide no what do you think fozz keep us as we are but use some kind of common sense for once rather than stolen ideas and ancient practices both of which end to hold us back rather than assure q of s

[cockney rebel]

he knows you know what an inteligent man! give him a job

[F0zziebear]

Rocky, I want to give you a virtual hug. For days everyone in here has been whipping each other up into a frenzy over the satan's called Leighton and Crozier. There are people behind closed doors attempting to keep this company alive and healthy. I have not met anyone so far who is in it purely for the money. If they wanted the money they would have gone and joined a FTSE 100 company and earned a lot more with share options etc....

In relation to prices: There is currently a basket of prices, which RM use but are restricted by an RPI-1 calculation. This means in effect that overall prices have to come down in real terms by 1% per annum. If someone wants to correct me on this please feel free as I did not work as an economist. When RM put up 1st class stamp prices, prices may have dropped on other products or at the very least the prices are rising below inflation.

1st class is now seen as a premium product by most businesses. 2nd class is in favour, but there is increasing competition for un-consolidated volume (that under say 10,000 items approx.) Rocky is right to say that we can maipulate prices on various products to reduce RM's costs. You are also right to say that reidrections are a pain, it takes a long time and if it is not done correctly generates lots of customer complaints. Not sure what more can be done for this product, but there is someone in marketing who works on this product and questions should be directed to them. If you have suggestions send themto alex.batchelor@royalmail.com (Marketing Director)

The real question is what does the customer want? We have numerous products out there, but I haven't seen any innovation since liberlisation. I know what I'd like to see and have also carried out research and I hope to see the fruits of that work over the coming years. If it comes off them RM will have serious problems as it will attack product/revenue streams that haven't been attacked yet!

Other well, good luck with the strike and if you are serious about making sure RM does not change, go for all out strike and link up with your European breathren as they are under attack as well!

F0zz

[cruisey]

Fozziebear me old mate, from what went on this morning at my D.O and from what i've heard across the country, a massive majority of people agreed with gregor gall. CWU Birmingham AMAL reckon only 3% of delivery staff went to work today and the Mail centre is desolate with mail piled up.
My future is at stake in this dispute. Don't forget, the union do want to modernise the business. They don't want this slash and burn mentality. If RM's business plan is imposed, there will be to few staff to complete the process. Change needs to be implemented gradually. Yes there will job losses, but it will be staff who wish to leave replaced by an amount of part timers. Not staff being forced to change their contracts without notice. Your points on this forum are valued and noticed, but on this, i'm afraid i disagree with you

[F0zziebear]

Maybe I'm being mis-interpretated. All I am saying is that we need to get away from either a purely public service or private service. Neither work.

I reckon there is a balance between what is a 'public' service and what is commercial enterprise. A revision of the USO is likely, but it has to ring fenced and any regulation and liberlaisation has to be done to ensure that the USO is maintained. How that is done is down to the boffins, but a subscription fee for all licence holders is required.

Jobs will ago across the business and a company of about 100,000 employees I think is manageable and still offer a service similar to what we have today.

I just felt that Gregor's article was a few years behind the current thinking in the industry. He needs to get out a bit more and speak to the likes of TNT and DHL who will be the main competitors over the coming years. Both companies will need Royal Mail to survive and be able to offer a highly quality service for mail that they do not process and deliver themselves. This takes us away from the neoliberal view which suggests that market forces will provide.

We all know that this does not work in practice, though it may work on a piece of paper that highly paid consultants peddle around for about £1500 a day.

Please tell your colleagues that their future is likely to be different, but as in Germany and Holland won't be a complete disaster.

I hope that brings some hope to those who stay on with Royal Mail over the coming years?

If you still disagree then we shall have to respect we have differences of opinion and leave it at that

yours

F0zz

[ROCKY]

cheers fozz i actually meant rec/del not redirections but as soon as someone else starts any type of del they are going to be dead in the water anyway, to me rm history of change is like this, we started country wide del with the penny black, and sdd we only do it once a day, and that is it,yes we need to modernise and i think every one knows that, but we need to be masters of our own destiny and i dont think that our 2 glorious leaders have much more interest anymore than the next big pay out which leads them one step closer to a rich and early retirement plus ocasional roles as a guest speaker, they have had there chance and its gone now,we need someone to unite us with a sense of reality and campaign against the real problems,the govt pay up what you owe for our pension 1 less week in iraq should cover it and the watchdog who are crippling us at the moment give us full contol and if it does not work we can still be sold off in 5 years time now we need managers parcel force counters etc everybody together to fight against the real problem,plus as i said get rid of these 400 year old rules and truly think for todays market before somebody else does,nowt against you fozz i just hope you were not too good at your old job