UK postal workers at Whitstable abandoned by CWU

[TrueBlueTerrier]

UK postal workers at Whitstable abandoned by Communication Workers Union

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02 ... t-f11.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) called off a second 24-hour strike by postal workers against the closure of the Whitstable Delivery Office in East Kent.

The strike, called for Saturday, January 26, and Monday, January 28, was set to coincide with a “day of action” organised by local residents. It was in response to Royal Mail’s plans to close the Whitstable Delivery Office in January 2013 and transfer the 50 postal workers to a larger site in Canterbury. The move has been opposed by both the postal workers and the local community.

The closure would result in residents having to make a 16-mile round trip to Canterbury to collect undelivered mail. Despite the second strike being called off, residents still assembled on the day outside the office to demonstrate their opposition.

On January 12, workers staged their first strike and marched through the town with residents. The march reportedly attracted 300 participants and met a popular response from shop owners and residents along the route. Royal Mail drafted an estimated 69 managers from other locations to provide a scab service on the day. The demonstrators blocked a Royal Mail lorry at the site’s entrance until police intervened.
Following the strike, Royal Mail announced the office would close February 11.

Postal workers were not informed of the plans to close their office along with another nearby office in Herne Bay until the autumn of 2011, after which petitions, public meetings and appeals to local politicians were conducted. Workers finally held a meeting at the end of 2012 to ballot for industrial action, which received an overwhelming majority to strike.

After the announcement of the first strike, Royal Mail began talks with CWU officials on January 9, in which both were eager to prevent this action by workers. The CWU area rep, Jean Roberts, said the dispute was because there had been “no consultation” over the closure of the office, but she insisted that the CWU wanted no more than to talk.

Roberts claimed that Royal Mail had not kept to a national agreement made in October 2012, which requires consultation on the closure of local delivery centres. Roberts added that “the people of Whitstable don’t want this and they can’t see any reason for it.”

Dave Banbury, the regional secretary for the CWU Kent branch, made the same point, saying, “We never accepted closure of local delivery offices and we believe there’s an alternative”. He made clear that the CWU is not opposed in principle to the closure, saying there “doesn’t appear to be a strong business case for moving it to Canterbury.”

These statements are nothing more than the CWU attempting to cover for its own complicity with the closure. The proposed Herne Bay office closure, against which the same workers and residents campaigned, was carried out at the end of last year without any word from the CWU. This is also not to mention the wave of closures in the area and nationally.

Before the first strike, one Whitstable worker wrote revealingly on the Unite the Resistance web site, “There were talks with the union at the regional level about the closure of Mail Centres around the county and certain things may have been agreed, but the closure of the delivery office in Whitstable was not one of them”.

A Royal Mail spokesperson also exposed the CWU’s role in these closures, pointing out that not only had the union been consulted, but that it had agreed to the proposals. The CWU pathetically claimed that while these talks did in fact occur, they were not a consultation but a meeting where Royal Mail told the CWU that this was going to happen.

If this was the case, it raises the question of why the CWU has not mounted any resistance. Royal Mail also added that the local delivery office closures were the second part of a two-phase restructuring. The first phase had been the closure of several sorting facilities and their concentration into a super sorting office in Medway. This led to 250 job losses, which the CWU called “regrettable but unavoidable”.

Not only is the CWU trying to mask its complicity, but has also laid the basis for winding down further opposition. After the first strike, the CWU called off the second strike when Royal Mail agreed to a three-week joint review of the closure. This is nothing more than providing the necessary rubber-stamping of the closure. Jean Roberts said, “We just want them to follow the national agreement.”

Sally Hopkins, the Royal Mail spokesperson, said the review is only “to provide clarity about the consultation that has already taken place and to provide further assurances to our employees.” The review is being overseen by the conciliation service Acas and “will look at a number of elements, including parking facilities and the arrangements for non-delivered items of mail.” She added that Royal Mail is “pleased that CWU has said that there will be no further industrial action at Whitstable whilst the review is under way.”

This proposed closure and the many others that have already taken place flow directly from the CWU’s betrayal of the postal workers’ strike in 2009 and the subsequent sellout agreement between the union and
Royal Mail. It is in this agreement, called “Business Transformation 2010 and Beyond”, that the CWU agreed to closures across the country in preparation for privatising the whole service under the guise of “modernisation”.

In a Postal Executive document written early in 2009, “A Credible CWU Alternative”, the union made clear its willingness to accommodate job losses and the closure of delivery centres to this end:
“The CWU accept that the modernisation of Royal Mail is both a necessity and a priority…the CWU…recognise the need to reduce costs and increase efficiency. We know this will mean a reduction in overall jobs, rationalisation of the Mail Centre Network and more flexible delivery spans.”

Members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) were also present at the demonstration outside Whistable delivery office, carrying placards calling for the defence of postal workers. The SWP has made little mention of the CWU calling off the Whitstable strike beyond mentioning it alongside the point that it took place while talks continue.

The SWP has played a more direct role in the betrayal of postal workers. Jane Loftus, a leading member of the SWP at the time, was president of the CWU Postal Executive Committee that voted unanimously to call off the 2009 strike for an interim agreement containing a no-strike clause. Angry and embarrassing questions about the union’s role in 2009 led the SWP to issue some mild criticisms of Loftus, who subsequently resigned from the party. However, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes continues to be a regular speaker at the SWP’s summer “Marxism” event.

[Bahia Feliz]

Did Whitstable close today?

[fishtank]

Dave Banbury, the regional secretary for the CWU Kent branch, made the same point, saying, “We never accepted closure of local delivery offices and we believe there’s an alternative”. He made clear that the CWU is not opposed in principle to the closure

AGM for the Kent Invicta Branch of the CWU (Communication Workers Union), a motion of support was passed (unanimously) as follows:-

'This AGM agrees;
That this Branch fully supports the members employed at the Whitstable Delivery Office in their current dispute with Royal Mail to this end;

The Branch will request under rule 13 a strike action ballot of the entire Royal Mail membership of the Branch should Royal Mail attempt to impose by executive action any un-agreed delivery revision in Whitstable or attempt to relocate/merge the Whitstable Delivery Office members to the Canterbury Delivery Office.

Moved by
David Banbury
Branch Secretary

Looks opposed to it to me......

[jmcg]

with friends like these.................................

[knackeredneedadayoff]

Why am i not suprised,corrupt,shame a union for the defence of the workers would of benefitted us a few years ago,sadly as a x member of the cwu with 30 yrs membership this is going to be more common with profits before anything ready for sell off.Its like new labour ,not for the working man.Glad i have only 7 months to go and feel sorry for what once was a good company.

[labbloke]

Not quite sure you have understood this thread knackered. the trots (SWP) say whitstable has been abandoned by union, next couple of replies tells us the true position regarding support from the branch including a possible ballot and widescale action.

The real message is never trust a trot

[fishtank]

the trots (SWP) say whitstable has been abandoned by union

You're getting your "trots" mixed up Lab.
This was published on behalf of the International Committee of the Fourth International,the relationship between the ICFI and the SWP is a bit like the relationship you would have with your ex-wife after you had slept with her sister and she had slept with your best mate then locked you out of the house and told everyone on facebook you were crap in bed.

Splitters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS-0Az7dgRY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clashcityrocker]

.....is a bit like the relationship you would have with your ex-wife after you had slept with her sister and she had slept with your best mate then locked you out of the house and told everyone on facebook you were crap in bed.

The voice of experience?

[Bernardson]

The SWP is a busted flush! http://socialistunity.com/swp-crisis-pa ... RpXgnRFDIU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CJStone]

I have to say, as someone whose been intimately involved in this dispute from the beginning, that this article is a complete fabrication. As someone pointed out, the branch AGM passed a motion of support for us. Jean Roberts has been behind us all the way. The quotes have been taken out of context and distorted to imply something they don't mean. I'll have to be more critical of WSWS articles in future. That was just nonsense. I wonder if they work for Royal Mail?

[CJStone]

Did Whitstable close today?

No. Still going strong.

[chooch]

Did Whitstable close today?

No. Still going strong.