My view of the joint statement

[Martin Walsh]

When a union suspends strike action 2 certainties always occur , those who were wavering suddenly grow a pair and shout sell out and those who did not support the strike suddenly suggest they did really.

It is always a judgement call whether you get more concessions from the employer before the action or after the action. The CWU on this occasion decided what was offered as the basis for further talks was significant enough to suspend next Mondays action. Bob Crow who has received plaudits on this site previously is a past master at doing a deal before action is necessary because it is pinch point.

Now let's review the reasons why the CWU suspended the action, the CWU has made it clear it wants a ground breaking agreement on the impacts of privatisation , no other union has achieve what we are looking. The RMT for all its strength main reasons for strikes is that they have to deal with all the franchises of the rail companies down dialing terms and conditions as well as outsourcing work.

So Royal Mail have committed to reaching an agreement within the 2 week period. Based on the following.

1 Royal Mail are moving from their previous postion of 3 years. Now there has been countless threads on here one in particular where people argued that in business 3 years is a good deal. The move Royal Mail will make is to 5 years but unlike the 3 year end date the 5 year deal will only be a review date. This will mean that if Royal Mail want to change any issues after 5 they have to give legal notice and there has to be a renegotiation. Think about it protentialy if a deal is done no franchising , outsourcing , changes to our national agreements including annual leave entitlements etc for a minuimn of 5 years. Some have suggested well Royal Mail will just ingnore the words again. They are forgetting all the legal binding stuff will be written by lawyers who are in the meetings and will be legally enforceable in courts where the CWU if Royal Mail breaks the legal guarantee take an injunction out on Royal Mail.

2, Royal Mail have twice previously improved their offer when they had said it was their final offer. Guess what due to the threat of IA they will improve their final offer again.

3. Royal Mail had previously made the acceptance of the pay deal. Dependent on staff accepting the pension changes. This was wrong. Royal Mail have now agreed that the pensions changes will be a seperate agreement. The CWU have made good progress on pension changes including improving the inferior scheme for entrants after 2008. If the CWU conclude a deal on pensions then members will get a seperate vote on the pension changes alone.

4, A lot of red herrings have been floated about the words in number 4. For absolute clarity the CWU will never agree to a no strike deal. Under Dave Ward as postal leader we have had more national disputes then any other leader in the history of unionised postal workers. There is absolute no ways we will give up our legal right to strike. Royal Mail have changed their previous proposal that they did not want binding arbitration to now they do. The CWU will not agree to a process which allows for Royal Mail to request disputes are resolved by binding arbitration or what is known as pendulum arbitration as this would be in all intent a no strike deal. That being said I think we all need a new process which establishes industrial stability. The IR framework section 3 tilted achieving agreement is mostly referred to as the disagreement procedure as most issues go up to stage 2 &3 at the end of stage 3 Royal Mail can take executive and the CWU can ballot our members for IA the view is thou a lot of DOMs introduce executive action without ever going through the IR framework. In addition what about discipline cases or bullying cases which lead to flashpoints . Mediation does help and acas do help but the view of the union unless Royal Mail take steps to change the culture of DOMs and DSMs or shift managers or MCMs who manage by numbers driven by budgets which often lead to bullying and the wrong style of management then little will change.

These talks are difficult and challenging.


5. Most people have not mentioned the charter but this is important as well as the CWU are looking to ensure that the USO is guaranteed and not Just the 47% of work we do which is part of the USO , we are wanting the 75% full time staff guarantee in their , that the interests of employees come before shareholders interests , that job security is guaranteed , that part timers cannot see their hours reduced or replaced by agencies.

6 the workplace issues will be very challenging. some of the scientists on Royal Mails delivery negotiating team want no longer to have revisions as they take too long to introduce. Instead they want to resource on a daily basis to demand ie the tragic on the day. This means regardless of whether you signed for duty if the traffic on the day means you need less duties then you will have people moved out of the office with the longer term view of reducing the reserves ratio. The CWU are not going to agree this and want an agreement which ends budget driven absorption and provides an agreement on a fair days workload. This is a differcult set of talks.

Will there be a deal ? I am an optimist but there is a lot to still fall out over. Intresting 7 days to come.

[HeilMoya]

Excellent read that, thank you.

[nataddick]

Thanks Dingo for providing some clarity on the current negotiating position.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Thanks Dingo for providing some clarity on the current negotiating position.

I agree - pity we can't get official briefings like this. I think a better informed membership would be a happier one.

Cheers Dingo

[celerycelery]

Cheers for that. Still along way to go and like you say plenty of time left for a fall out but early signs are promising

[labbloke]

Cheers Dingo, this is the kind of info we need to explain where we are to the membership

[meweavy]

Thanks dingo, a promising read, and hopefully we will see a better deal.

[Son Of God]

Great post dingo... I shall spread the word :)

[Pinky 1]

Thanks for taking the time Dingo, it's appreciated.

[JaneM]

Excellent post Dingo,informative and clarifying issues in a rational manner.

[Judgee]

At the moment all we have is a delay on the strike action..... how long will the delays continue? Til after Xmas maybe?!

No deal agreed as yet so why postpone the strike at all? I just keep getting flashbacks of the last time we had RM management by the danglies.... and then let them go only to end up getting shafted after Xmas!

[dvbuk55]

At the moment all we have is a delay on the strike action..... how long will the delays continue? Til after Xmas maybe?!

No deal agreed as yet so why postpone the strike at all? I just keep getting flashbacks of the last time we had RM management by the danglies.... and then let them go only to end up getting shafted after Xmas!

I also remember the last time the pension issue was "decoupled" for a separate vote - it didn't happen and we ended up with changes. If the threat of strike action brought a new and improved offer, imagine what strike action would bring.

[daveyeff]

dingo,,,there you go again. not the post or the points given, that was good mate. but you say ''interesting 7 days to come''. surely its at least 14 days ( til 13th) and as lincox pointed out,,,,could be as much as 19 days. can you clarify??

[daveyeff]

At the moment all we have is a delay on the strike action..... how long will the delays continue? Til after Xmas maybe?!

No deal agreed as yet so why postpone the strike at all? I just keep getting flashbacks of the last time we had RM management by the danglies.... and then let them go only to end up getting shafted after Xmas!

not JUST by the danglies,,,we had them on the canvass, but billy hayes was the ref and he let them get up.

[clashcityrocker]

not JUST by the danglies,,,we had them on the canvass, but billy hayes was the ref and he let them get up.

It is a common theme on here that we had them by the balls and the union gave it away in 2010.
Can anyone prove it?

Repeating it ad nauseum doesn't make it a fact.