Speech to East London Postal Branch meeting by Billy Hayes

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.billyhayes.co.uk/index.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you for inviting me today. It is always a privilege to address an active and strong branch like your own.

I am going to concentrate on the Union’s campaign against the privatisation of Royal Mail. Dave Ward will handle your questions on the proposed closure of your Mail Centre. Obviously, all of us at Union Headquarters will do what we can to assist you and the London Division in your campaign. We have been through three campaigns against privatisation already.

Firstly – when Heseltine put the Bill before Parliament in 1994, under John Major’s government. The CWU campaigned against it and won. Secondly – when Allan Leighton lobbied government to sell off Royal Mail in 2004, and sweetened this by proposing to allocate some shares to staff. That campaign lasted until January 2007, when Alistair Darling finally turned him down – as a result of the CWU’s campaign against the proposal. And thirdly – when Lord Mandelson introduced his Bill for a minority sale of shares into The House of Lords last year.


Again – the CWU campaigned against it and won. So now – we have a fight against the proposal by the Coalition Government. They are proposing to sell off all of Royal Mail, keep the Post Office Counters public, and buy us off with a few shares. As you know, we have begun our campaign to Keep The Post Public.

We don’t kid ourselves that this time will be any easier. The Coalition Government has a majority of 82, and is early in its term. There are internal tensions between the two parties. And the Government has a great number of controversial policies it is attempting to introduce. There will be some wins and losses. We have to maximise our chances by good tactics. And we know that if we don’t fight, we will certainly lose. If we do fight, at least we will gain concessions, and at best we will defeat the legislation.

The Bill is currently in the Committee Stage in the Commons following the Second Reading. There are quite a few months procedure in front of it. So we have got time to mount our campaign – but we have to put serious resources behind this, both at headquarters and in every branch. At the moment – we have the support of the Labour leadership and Parliamentary Labour Party. We also have the support of all the non government parties – including the nationalists in Scotland and Wales; all the parties in the North of Ireland, and the Green Party.

But we have to create pressure and tensions inside the Coalition, by our work outside of Parliament. Inside of Parliament – we are working closely with Labour’s front bench and supportive MPs from the other parties. We provide the material, information and suggestions for amendments to the Bill. The idea is to draw out the debate, and try and take out some of the objectionable clauses. We are also forcing the government to justify its stance to its own MPs – many of whom are new.

Outside of Parliament, we need to organise on the ground initiatives with our own members, and with supporters outside the industry. You will soon be seeing posters and leaflets in the work places. We are considering a workplace ballot of the members to show the support our campaign has. And to disprove those who may say that the CWU doesn’t represent postal workers.

You will also have received the letter we sent to you. And we are engaged in a good deal of online campaigns, so check out the CWU’s website - http://www.cwu.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. One tactic we are using is to concentrate on the Coalition Government marginal constituencies. These are MPs whose majority is 10% or less. That means if they lose the support of just 5 in every 100 of their supporters they can lose their seat. Of course, a general election is some time away. But if we can make them feel vulnerable now, then they may end up rebelling or abstaining.

As you know – the London work force commutes over wide areas. So the East London Postal Branch has members in a widespread of marginals like Croydon Central, Ealing, Enfield North, Harrow East, Hendon and Thurrock. We have written to all CWU members in marginal constituencies. Post cards tailored to the individual MPs have been sent to all members homes. We need to build on this with public activity in the constituencies – like meetings, lobbies, letters to the media, petitions, stalls and so on. The biggest number of East London Postal members in marginals are in Enfield North and Thurrock. In Enfield North there are 14 of your branch members. Here Nick de Bois – Tory MP – has a majority of 1692. But there are 26 other CWU branches who have members in that constituency – so you can see that we will have a bit of a base to build upon.

In Thurrock, the Tory MP, Jackie Doyle Price, has a majority of only 92. Your branch has 41 members in that constituency. And there are 25 other CWU branches with members in that constituency. Now that’s a good base to build upon and establishing local activity, all it needs is co-ordination.

We are not just confining our work to such constituencies. But for tactical reasons, it’s clear why we have to put extra effort into them. We are taking many other initiatives. For example on December 15th there is a rally in Central Hall Westminster – with a lobby of MPs afterwards. We know this is the Xmas pressure period – but we should be able to get a delegation from each branch to make for a successful rally. You will have seen the successful fire fighters rally earlier this week on the TV. That shows how you can make an impact with well planned events. As I said earlier, we have no illusions about the difficulties of our fight against privatisation this time.

But for the sake of the public we serve, and for the sake of the terms and conditions under which CWU members work – it is vital that we carry on this fight.

Together we will win.

[stokes11eg]

[woofwoof]

Dave Ward will handle your questions on the proposed closure of your Mail Centre

what did he say

[bexhil palace]

Dave Ward will handle your questions on the proposed closure of your Mail Centre

what did he say

Vote for it, it's the deal of the century.

[guvenor]

hayes and ward fat barstewards

[fishtank]

I take it this entire speech was aimed at the London Divisional Reps..
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... on#p325536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maybe a certain poster can let us know if it has eased their minds?
It personally doesn't do much for me.
Words like "at least we will gain concessions""take out some of the objectionable clauses""We are considering a workplace ballot"...it's not exactly fighting talk is it?

[belle smith]

"We are considering a workplace ballot"...it's not exactly fighting talk is it?

We had one of those at the time of the pension changes didn't we.

[Martin Walsh]

I spoke at the same meeting on sunday, they were over 250 members in attendance.

The main thrust of the meeting was concerning the planned closure of the East London Mail Centre of which I spoke , Dave Ward spoke and John Crudas and the Branch spoke and answered questions on.

Billy spoke and answered questions on the unions tactics on privitisation and the union have adopted some of the tactics which we had asked the union to consider. It was far from downbeat and whilst the union faces an up hill task we are determind to do as much as possible to defeat the plans.

Now in terms of the main thurst of the meeting . It was lively and a good meeting. We are united in London in opposing Royal Mail`s plans to close two mail centres and remove the international work form the Mount. It will break the overarching objective of avioding complusory redundancies. Royal Mail are under pressure from the national union on the issue and lets just say national talks are on -going.

Sorry cannnot reveal more but loose lips sinks ships.

[stokes11eg]

Billys loose lips sinks R/M

[bexhil palace]

Billys loose lips sinks pints.

[cashman]

Billys loose lips sinks pints.