'Modern' mail? letter

[Stormproof]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/2 ... ion-ballot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Unnamed "employment experts", says your report (Royal Mail clash over union's ballot decision, 18 September), "believe that unions are trying to delay modernisation" of the Royal Mail. I am an employment expert. My expertise is based on many years' practical experience as a senior lay official of two unions. I also have two relevant higher degrees, including a doctorate based in part on an earlier Royal Mail dispute, in 1996. My research was into corporate employee communication – popularly called "bullshit" – and its decoding and rejection by employees.

As in 2009, so in 1996 Royal Mail management accused the CWU of "walking away from talks" – after Alan Johnson had purported to reach an agreement with bosses without referring it to his executive committee. And could one of the anonymous "experts" please say what is "modern" about seeking to screw more work out of people while holding down wages and sacking people?

Alan Harrison

Walsall, West Midlands

[DGP1]

I wonder if the Daily Fail or the Torygraph would print such a letter