Update on national issues

[Martin Walsh]

The CWU believe that Royal Mail and the Government are not convincing the big investors they need for an IPO. However they believe the Government may go for plan b which is to sell to the equality firm CVC who own companies like AA and have attacked their terms and condition. CVC own 40% of the Belgium post office and they are currently preparing to sell this off to understand whether there is an appetite of investing in postal services. CVCs track record is to buy companies and make a quick buck by attacking job numbers and terms and conditions including pensions.

TNT have reported that they now are delivering up to 600 000 items per day in the trials in London. Off comm have taken an unprecedented step of writing to MPs saying the CWU are wrong and that the USO cannot be changed without an act of parliament. clearly our campaign is working and off comm are nervous. We have to put more pressure on because if CVC buy Royal Mail there is no way the USO is safe.

In terms of talks on pay and the future stuff this is complex because Royal Mail don't want a pay deal without settling the future stuff and of course how can the CWU do a deal on the future without knowing that whoever owns the industry will abide with the future agreements and of course our existing agreements.

On pensions Royal Mail are still nervous about announcing the consultation because they will know that it will disturb an hornets nest. If nothing happens prior to the 30 th June the pension regulator will write to the employer asking what it intends to do. Royal Mail are still saying to the union that if they do nothing they will have to increase their contributions to 28% and they cannot afford that. Their position is still to change the final salary link to RPI that is all service prior to 2008. This would only be guaranteed for 5 years and of course then it could be changed again by who ever owns Royal Mail. Unlike the previous position the change would be immediate and no one who has service prior to 2008 would be protected.

There is no other show in town other then the consultation ballot. It is a dress rehearsal for a real ballot in my opinion.

Now you can either support the union by voting yes and in doing so supporting your terms and conditions in the future or you can support the government and Royal Mail in destroying your futures.

There is no fence to sit on ! Either fight for your future or let others do it for you!

[fmrPOSTIE]

It was, up until recently illegal to privatise Royal Mail. But of course all that is needed is a law change. And that's what has happened. The govt now have authority to sell shares in the company. Therefore the USO is safe but only for the time being !

CVC will be a disaster for the company. Full public ownership is crucial members of the public don't want choice in the postal market they just want one good Royal Mail.

[daveyeff]

i must say dingo that i entirely agree with you on that.

[fishtank]

Therefore the USO is safe but only for the time being !

The first thing a new owner will do is complain to Ofcom that the USO in it's present form is unaffordable.

They will state that continuing with the present system puts the company and therefore the entire USO at risk.

Since Ofcom's brief is to protect the continuation of the Universal Service at all costs this obviously includes reducing that service to protect it's overall continuation.

Ofcom's next move would be to put forward recommendations to Parliament that would make the USO affordable for Royal Mail since nobody else will provide it.

Parliament would more or less have to rubber stamp those proposals because the only alternatives would be Government subsidising the USO(not going to happen) or Government risking Royal Mail walking away from the USO citing affordability and the USO collapsing.

The whole "needing an act of Parliament" to reduce the USO is a sham.

[pants123]

thank you Dingo for your information.... im just a small person who delivers the post, but i dont want to be screwed over by fooking greedy people, who only think about money and not people.... they wouldnt screw their own family over.. that is for sure..

[Rudolph_Hucker]

What is IPO and USO please?

[clashcityrocker]

An initial public offering (IPO) or stock market launch is a type of public offering where shares of stock in a company are sold to the general public, on a securities exchange, for the first time. Through this process, a private company transforms into a public company.

USO is our Universal Service Obligation - every house 6 days/week type of thing.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What is IPO and USO please?

IPO - Initial Public Offering - its when the sell shares to the public
USO - Universal Service Obligation - the rules RM have to meet.

[Rudolph_Hucker]

Thank you Mr Rocker.

[celerycelery]

Along with getting the public on side we need to really push to our members the possible attack by this CVC if it goes through on jobs, terms and conditions and pensions. Got a lot of people who have been with RM for life and to expose to them the possible issues around pensions etc will get them on side.

[Cut Off King]

wolf

[dvbuk55]

I predict a huge majority YES vote to the 4 issues put forward on the consultative ballot of the ones who return the ballot paper and I expect a large proportion of ballot papers to be returned.

[aiden01]

Thanks for that update dingo hope that message is clearly distributed to all members of cwu not just thiose on rmc at least you are trying to communicate with the members unlike cwu HQ.

[pokos27]

royal mail was destroyed as soon as dsa was allowed, as you can see the trend is to make conditions far worse, yes you can go on strike, but in the long term it will be dreadful. blame the lib/lab/con for this mess, the misery of the many for the bonus of the few, must that that lot for making saturday a trult awful day for delivery

[stephen500]

http://www.bpost.be/site/fr/docs/postgr ... t_2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Belgium Post office Owned by CVC.
"Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people." (Wikipedia)
So we need to be aware of context, Belgium is a small country, with a small population.
Contrasted to UK 94,060 sq mi with 63 million (2011)
So considering context above the Belgium post office (Royal Mail) had
Job losses 4.5% (2010 to 2011) to 32,110
CVC acquired 2006, no figures on original staffing base. 2009 34,180
Profits around 10%.
"The economic context and the
unavoidable fall in mail volumes
force us to continue on the path
of change. Faced with these
challenges, we have taken the
decision to make our human
capita[/i]l a priority through the
bpeople project launched at
the end of 2011." Note the staff are human capital
"The wellbeing of our employees
also involves guidance and
support in terms of physical and
mental health. The Psychosocial
Prevention service is responsible
for managing work-related stress.
This comprises running prevention
campaigns, raising awareness
among managers, registering
complaints and providing support,
even stress management courses."

Very scientific
Page 10 of the report "The number of distribution centres will fall from over 400 to around 60 mail centres"
Then page 43
"Providing the universal
service
But our main mission is providing
the universal service, which is
the collection and delivery of
mail and parcels five days a week
throughout the territory."
http://www.cvc.com/Our-Portfolio.htmx?o ... 1007124701