ROYAL MAIL PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE YOUR FUTURE

[POSTMAN]

ROYAL MAIL PUTTING PROFITS BEFORE YOUR FUTURE

A statement by London Divisional Committee RE:London Mail Centre Review

Dear Colleague

Royal Mail’s decision to send out an unagreed preference exercise asking if you want to take voluntary redundancy is both underhand and a desperate attempt to scare you into thinking you have no future in Royal Mail.

Royal Mail’s decision breaks both the MTSF Agreement and the Business Transformation 2010 Agreement.

Royal Mail’s unagreed preference exercise also treats your union with contempt. Last Thursday the union put forward an alternative proposal to Royal Mail’s National Operations Director, Mark Higson, which had at its cornerstone a total commitment of no compulsory redundancies. Royal Mail, at the end of that meeting, said they would take some time to consider the CWU’s alternative proposal. At no stage did Royal Mail mention that they were putting Communications out or a preference exercise. Instead they told the CWU Divisional Reps, by telephone, late on Friday afternoon of their intentions. This is a both underhand and a disgraceful way to treat you and your union.

Royal Mail’s Peoples Plan does not add up. It requires multiple moves; no one is safe whether they work in the Mount, East or South London. Remember, under Royal Mail’s plans you could be moved to a closing Mail Centre to allow someone from that Mail Centre to move to outer London. Royal Mail’s Peoples Plan is different from any other Peoples Plan for dealing with Mail Centre closures. Remember, there are 1,100 jobs less under their plan. No matter how many times Royal Mail spin the job numbers the fact is that their plan will lead to compulsory redundancies.

THE CWU ARE THEREFORE ASKING THAT YOU DO NOT SIGN INTO THIS UNAGREED EXERCISE.
This exercise has not been agreed by the union and will make compulsory redundancies inevitable.

In addition, there will be job losses at Rathbone Place due to the relocation to the Mount. However, Royal Mail will not discuss with the union the details of how the move will take place and the impact on the people working there.

THE CWU BELIEVE THAT IF YOU CHOOSE TO SIGN INTO THE PREFERENCE EXERCISE YOU WILL BE CONDEMNING OTHER COLLEAGUES TO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCY.

Remember under any future plan, there will still be voluntary redundancies so individuals will not lose out. However, it is the union’s view that any preference exercise must give all members of staff the widest range of options so that an informed decision can be made.

HOWEVER, IT IS VITAL IN THE MEANTIME THAT YOU DO NOT FILL OUT THIS PREFERENCE EXERCISE.



Furthermore, we believe that you should not speak to any advisors from “Clear Choice”. Remember Royal Mail pay “Clear Choice” on the basis they get people to leave the business first and meet Royal Mail’s plans. “Clear Choice” is answerable only to Royal Mail. They do not put your interests first.

So a proper preference exercise should be jointly agreed between RM and CWU and should include options to stay in Royal Mail employment as well as choosing your locality.

THIS CURRENT UNAGREED PREFERENCE EXERCISE THAT YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO PARTICIPATE IN IS DESIGNED TO SEE WHETHER THEY CAN ATTRACT 589 INDIVIDUALS TO LEAVE IN ORDER TO PUSH AHEAD WITH THEIR PLANS, WHICH WILL LEAD TO COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES AND COMPULSORY TRANSFERS.

Your union will not accept compulsory redundancies and will be announcing an industrial action ballot timescale this week.

We will also be meeting with you at meetings at your workplace or if Royal Mail refuse us permission to enter your building to talk to you then we will have the meetings outside. Your union will not be silenced or stopped from representing your interests.

SUPPORT YOURSELVES BY NOT FILLING IN THE PREFERENCE EXERCISE
Conclusion

We fully realise that this is a worrying and stressful time for individuals. However, the only way we can stop Royal Mail from making compulsory redundancies and transfers in London is by standing together and forcing them to put people, not profit, first.

THEREFORE, THE CWU RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING:-

Do not fill in or return the preference exercise

Do not speak with “Clear Choice”

Do not accept compulsory redundancy or compulsory transfer

Demand that Royal Mail put your jobs and your future first, not their profit

Support the union, fighting to protect your future


A statement by London Divisional Committee

[vila465]

I am a strong supporter of the union, but can someone please give me an honest answer to an honest question.I admit to being naive on what goes on between royal mail and the union when they talk to each other ,but if royal mail are breaking the 2010 agreement ,why are the union asking us to ballot.If royal mail have broken the agreement WHY ARE WE NOT TAKING THEM TO COURT INSTEAD.I and many other union members believe that walking out on strike is exactly what royal mail wants and we are playing into their hands.I would never cross a picket line,but can someone from the london committee come on here and explain why we dont take them to court.The union of 20 years ago is far different from the one of today,and i sometimes wonder if dave ward, bill hayes or even the london committee realise just how uninterested ,many members are about a potential ballot.

[Martin Walsh]

The reason why we cant take Royal Mail to court is that we do not have legally binding agreements. Royal Mail or for that matter the CWU can break a national agreement without recourse to the law. Yes ACAS are involved but they do not really come down on one side in these matters they attempt to get both sides talking.

The union that includes Billy , Dave, the LDC can only advise members of the situration and the fact that in the case of Royal Mail`s plans for London will lead to complusory redundancies , complusory transfers , that indivduals from those offices will be subject of mulitpile moves including those from the Mount. Remember under Royal Mail`s plan because they are not treating staff in the indviduals offices seperately that someone from Nine Elms could be moved to East London which is also closing to allow someone to move immediately to Croydon. How is that reasonable ?

Now if the members after hearing that do not support a fight then that is there choice and they will face the consequences. However we are confident once you explain the truth to the members at meetings then they will realise that they have no choice but to fight to save their futures. Industrial action is not a first option but unless we want to allow Royal Mail a free run at destroying our members futures and forcing complusory redundancies and transfers then what other choice have we got.

[Cut Off King]

However we are confident once you explain the truth to the members at meetings then they will realise that they have no choice but to fight to save their futures. Industrial action is not a first option but unless we want to allow Royal Mail a free run at destroying our members futures and forcing complusory redundancies and transfers then what other choice have we got.

STEP BACK IN TIME..........

RM were attacking offices up an down the country.

Local meetings call in area reps to rally the troops with tails of woe about what rm has in store for us

Offices responded to the unions call

We lost wages ( before the dispute went national ) to defend our & Londons jobs

Negotiations were held

AND THEN AN AGREEMENT WAS MADE THAT GAVE AWAY ALL WE HAD BEEN FIGHTING FOR

Don't worry Roger Poole will be overseeing the agreement so that RM wont dare to go against the agreement

A pay CUT followed

Workload increased

Moral dropped

And now were back to where we started ( only now with lower pay and poorer conditions )

It starts again..............

[bodger]

cut off king you are right. A pity you don't run the CWU

[BELIAL]

But to pose the eternal question ;the conundrum that baffles all, where is our guardian angel the most elusive lesser spotted Roger P. ?

[vila465]

THANKS DINGOfor your reply.It does seem like royal mail will be rubbing their hands together if we go on strike now.People are pissed off ,because staff who work inside the london mail centres were given false hope by the union,and given many false promices which have failed to materialise.

[Martin Walsh]

It does seem that people are re-writing history. The fact is that the union adopted a policy Christmas 2008 that the Business was introducing a new business plan which included mail centre closures , delivery best praticse , walk sequencing etc and were not willing to give any benefits ie Royal Mail were no longer willing to pay for change. The union adopted a policy of no agreement to any savings.

As is normal , some areas held the line and others did not. Those who did had executive action imposed on them and many areas balloted there were over 400 ballots some took more action than others including some areas of Scotland and London. That action forced Royal Mail into talks and at the Union confernece it was agreed that a national ballot would take place but work had to be done in some areas. The local action continued and an interim agreement was almost in place prior to any industrial action nationally. However the leaked newsnight Royal Mail document which exposed Royal Mail`s strategy was shown the night before the Postal Executive. The next day as a result of that newsnight the Postal Executive agreed action. Dave and Billy held that press conference which went out live on sky of which many posters praised the unions stance. We had two 24 hour strikes but they were not solid everywhere and in some areas more went into work then did not. These were reports from union officials not Royal Mail.

An interim agreement was struck on 5th November which would help to resolve the displine cases linked to the dispute , resolve the executive action and allow some time to achieve the bigger agreement. That agreement took some time to achieve, the union did not roll over and that agreement was endorsed by the membership overwhelmingly. Now there was not a pay cut. Basic pay went up. Now if your refering to door to door well its a question of whether you believed with or without an agreement that Royal Mail would have continued paying a unit payment for a product which they could not grow and quality was poor and was instrumental in their business plan. I have no doubt that door to door unit payment was never going to continue. The union captured the money and introduced it into permanent basic pay. The shift allowance was also only ever their for starting at a particular time how many under walk sequencing start at those times.

Roger poole and Peter Harwood from ACAS are both good people but they have no special powers to tell Royal Mail to do something they are there to attempt to persuade both parties to find a solution. They are still working behind the scenes to try and stop conflict but the stakes are very high, Royal Mail see profit not people as their main priority.

[Martin Walsh]

THANKS DINGOfor your reply.It does seem like royal mail will be rubbing their hands together if we go on strike now.People are pissed off ,because staff who work inside the london mail centres were given false hope by the union,and given many false promices which have failed to materialise.

The union is still in there fighting for the members. I am doing round the clock meetings in East London today , South London next tuesday and wednesday and the Mount next Thursday. Unlike Royal Mail we face our members and we tell them the truth and we ask them to support the union. Remember if there is a choice between Royal Mail , the union or being an indivudual in what Royal Mail is currently proposing which one has the best chance of finding a solution.

We are still fighting and still in talks with Royal Mail so all is lost but sometimes you have to apply pressure to get the right result. In Royal Mail you get nothing without being willing to fight for it.

[parky]

dingo i put on rmc ages about the nw div plan of action for tackling mail centre closures and i told you they didn,t work... nw div sent out a scary letter which it seems you have copied nearly word for word, it didn,t work.. if they don,t do the preference then what choice will they have? we were told not to do it because there wasnt enough jobs but nobody was made CR.
how will you feel if london go on strike and your mail is sorted around the country by lads on ot? because thats what will happen same as last time.

[Martin Walsh]

Parky the people's plan is different then in the north west mail centre review. Stockport and Oldham into Manchester was not an unreasonable proposal . Liverpool into Warrington again was not unreasonable and was accepted by the majority of the workforce. What was unreasonable was Crewe into Warrington and there are unresolved surplus still with individuals going through mtsf appeals.

However the difference in london is that there are 1100 less jobs on offer 1 in 3 of the excisting workforce. For full time processing staff its is far worse. There will be a surplus of over 300 in south London , 300 in east and 500 in the mount the only one staying open. The preference exercise is also different as it does not ask individuals if they want to stay in royal mail and at what office it only asks if you want vr.

The dispute in London is not about defending bricks and mortar it is about defending people from compulsory redundancies and complusory transfers ! Is that not what a union should do ! The union gets attacked for not doing enough by some on here and when it does take a strong stand it's gets attacked for fighting royal mail's plans.

Well I make no apolgoies for standing in front of members in London at the 3 mail centres and at rathbone place and telling them that if they want to stop royal mail's from making compulsory redundancies and transfer then they need to stand together and fight! I unlike some on here and am not referring to you when I say this meet the members and am prepared to tell them things they won't like as well as asking them to support eachother ! It's a shame some others don't do the same!

[2old4this]

If it does come to a strike then it must be everyone out this time.

Not like the last dispute where we would go out for the day. 19 times, and then come back to 2 days work because the rest of the country carried on working.

[vanman]

A question to Dingo:

Can you expand on your statement that there will be compulsory redundancies?

Have RM said they will not honour the committments under the BT2010 agreement or MTSF?

OR

By "compulsory" do you mean that members will feel that they have no other option but to take VR instead of moving office?

If the answer is Yes to the first question - then this affects us all big time!

If the answer is No to that, but Yes to the second question - then it isn't "Compulsory Redundancy". The fact is this "hobsons choice" has faced members across the country for years, especially in POL, and is the logical consequence of closing offices and alternatives being further and further apart.

The problem is RM will hide behind MTSF and make "reasonable" job offers to us.

[Martin Walsh]

Royal Mail`s peoples plan does not add up. They have refused to give a guarntee that there will be no complusory redundancies as part of the London review. Remember their peoples plan leaves 1 in every 3 people without a job. Their people plan requires 1 in every 3 postman to leave the business.

There is no prospect of them achieving that . Therefore they are pushing through their plan to deliver the profits but knowing that it will lead to indivduals want to stay in Royal Mail employment being told they cant.

Yes of course it effects us all. They have chosen to do London first for two reasons ,one they know if they can get away with it in London then they can get away with it everywhere and secondly they know there is an anti London feeling in some parts of the membership and are hoping people do not stand up as a union opposed to complusory redundancies.

The sad fact is I believe on the both of them they are correct. Some People talk about unity and talk the right thing but dont show it when some are staring down the barrel of a gun.

[BT2010]

are london being balloted or the whole of the UK dingo?

the biggest problem i see with getting a yes vote are the rolling contract people, i know in my area many PT are up for walking as it seems they have been let down over the 70/30 split that has failed to materialise.
further to that all OT has been pulled in favour of employing more rolling conracts

thanks for the heads up dingo, always appreciated