Mail backlog more than 20 million items, union claims

[POSTMAN]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... laims.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More than 20 million items of post have gone undelivered because of the recent series of postal strikes, union leaders have claimed.

Fresh strikes are planned for next week, raising the prospect of a further backlog, the Communication Workers Union announced.

The union said the backlog was 20 million items in London, a million in Bristol, half a million in Peterborough and quarter of a million in Leeds.


Further strikes were announced for the next week, affecting regions including London, Birmingham, Coventry, Essex, South Wales, Warrington, Bristol, Glasgow and Leeds.

The union has been taking industrial action for months in a dispute over pay, jobs and services.

The deadlock has led to a national strike ballot of 130,000 workers later this month.

The result could cause embarrassment to the Government, as the ballot closes on Sept 30 and the results are due within 24 hours, the last day of the Labour conference.

David Ward, the union’s deputy general secretary, said the backlog of mail was now bigger than in the national strike two years ago.

However a Royal Mail spokesman said: "The amount of mail delayed in the capital is absolutely not the 20 million figure claimed by the union but nearer to four to five million letters, which we expect to clear in the next few days.

"More than 90 per cent of our people are working normally delivering mail today across the country, and we are again urging the CWU to stop hurting customers and to call off their strikes and provide customers with the service they need and expect from Royal Mail.”

The two sides have accused each other of reneging on a deal in 2007 which was aimed at modernizing the service.

Mr Ward said: "Royal Mail's head in the sand approach to the problems in the mail industry is now severely damaging services for customers.”

He added: "Management have been attacking and bullying our members through unagreed, often unworkable, changes. The dismissive attitude to staff at the same time as cuts to jobs, hours and overtime and a pay-freeze has made Royal Mail a dismal place to work.”

Royal Mail said the changes were “fair and reasonable” and “entirely in line with existing agreements with the union.”

A spokesman said it “completely rejected” claims that management had been bullying employees.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE58838D20090909" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Union says strikes cause massive post backlog

LONDON (Reuters) - Strikes by postal workers have caused a massive logjam of mail with more than 20 million items backed up in London alone, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Wednesday.

Royal Mail staff have staged a series of strikes in areas across Britain including London, Birmingham, East Anglia and Edinburgh over job cuts and the management's modernisation plans.

A ballot of 130,000 postal workers is due later this month over whether a national strike should take place.

The CWU said its members' action meant that as well as the London backlog, a million items in Bristol, half a million in Peterborough and 250,000 in Leeds had been delayed.

"Royal Mail's head in the sand approach to the problems in the mail industry is now severely damaging services for customers with backlogs bigger than in the national strike of 2007," said Dave Ward, the CWU deputy general secretary.

"Management have been attacking our members through bullying-in unagreed, often unworkable, changes."

Royal Mail said the backlog caused by the action was nowhere near as big as claimed by the CWU and that the post delayed in London would soon be cleared.

The company says the union's actions are damaging the future health of its business, which it says relies on providing reliable, affordable services.

Royal Mail has a large pension deficit and has seen mail volumes decrease by 10 percent annually because of competition from other operators and the growth of email.


It says the modernisation plans are needed and have already been successfully brought in at a majority of offices.

Earlier this year, the government suspended plans to sell part of Royal Mail due to adverse market conditions.

The proposal had been to sell up to 30 percent of the company to make it more efficient and competitive, but the part-privatisation plan had been condemned by some Labour MPs and unions.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Yorkshire mail mountain hits 250,000 as new strikes are called

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/Yor ... 5632343.jp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A QUARTER of a million items of strike-hit post are now backed up in Yorkshire, it was claimed today, as unions targeted Leeds for a new wave of strike action.
The national mail mountain has now outgrown the one built up during the last national dispute two years ago, with 20 million items awaiting delivery in London, a million in Bristol and half a million in Peterborough.

The fresh strikes announced for the next week, will hit London, Birmingham, Coventry, Essex, South Wales, Warrington, Bristol and Glasgow, as well as Leeds.

The Communication Workers Union, which released the figures, has been taking industrial action for months in a long-running row over pay, jobs and services and is preparing to hold a national ballot for strikes among 130,000 workers later this month.

Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "Royal Mail's head in the sand approach to the problems in the mail industry is now severely damaging services for customers, with backlogs bigger than in the national strike of 2007.

"Management have been attacking and bullying our members through unagreed, often unworkable, changes. The dismissive attitude to staff at the same time as cuts to jobs, hours and overtime and a pay-freeze has made Royal Mail a dismal place to work.

"We are successful at bringing in change by agreement. Royal Mail needs the backing of postal workers to make the company successful and make change work. We want them to see sense and negotiate agreements which make change work for the company, staff and customers."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The strikes today are again focused on London and the amount of mail delayed in the capital is absolutely not the 20 million figure claimed by the union but nearer to four to five million letters, which we expect to clear in the next few days.

"More than 90% of our people are working normally delivering mail today across the country, and we are again urging the CWU to stop hurting customers and to call off their strikes and provide customers with the service they need and expect from Royal Mail.

"We completely reject the union's claims about bullying. The changes we are making are fair and reasonable and entirely in line with existing agreements with the union, including the 2007 pay and modernisation agreement which the CWU leadership signed in the presence of the TUC."

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Union claims mail backlog is at record high

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/midweekh ... 3A49%3A653" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Communication Workers Union today (Wednesday) strongly urges Royal Mail to engage in meaningful negotiations to agree changes for the business.

Union leaders claim the mail backlog is now bigger than at the height of the national strike of 2007 with well over 20 million items backed up in London alone.

CWU also has reports of mail backlogs of a million items in the Bristol area and delays in the network across the UK. The situation is significantly disrupting mail with delays of over a week being reported.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "Royal Mail's head in the sand approach to the problems in the mail industry is now severely damaging services for customers with backlogs bigger than in the national strike of 2007.

"Management have been attacking our members through bullying-in unagreed, often unworkable, changes. The dismissive attitude to staff at the same time as cuts to jobs, hours and overtime and a pay-freeze has made Royal Mail a dismal place to work.

"We are successful at bringing in change by agreement. Royal Mail needs the backing of postal workers to make the company successful and make change work. We want them to see sense and negotiate agreements which make change work for the company, staff and customers."



Further strikes are set for the coming week and a national ballot of all 130,000 Royal Mail postal workers will go ahead this month.

[pinstripe]

Interesting reading especially:
"Royal Mail has a large pension deficit and has seen mail volumes decrease by 10 percent annually because of competition from other operators and the growth of email." So as we are delivering most of our competitors mail, how come the decrease in volumes is still 10%?

However, the CWU are not going into enough detail eg, how are the changes being bullied through? Why are members opposed to RM version of modernisation, these articles make us sound like we are opposed to working for a living!

[DGP1]

Will Post Com fine RM for all these failures

[dvbuk55]

"The result could cause embarrassment to the Government, as the ballot closes on Sept 30 and the results are due within 24 hours, the last day of the Labour conference."

Now it all becomes clear - the leadership didn't want the embarassment of a ballot overshadowing the conference. Now if the union wasn't affiliated to the Labour Party this wouldn't be a problem - and the new talks will be a sop to Labour as showing a conciliatory approach by the leadership. It is time they were dumped, but they are so entrenched in their enclave it is going to take something special to shift them. Who knows that after the general election we may have a membership that wakes up to reality.