Urgent Open Letter to the CWU Postal Executive Committee

[LondonUNISON]

The following open letter to the CWU postal executive was issued yesterday by two long-serving Activists, Dave Chapple, (Bridgwater/Bristol) and Pete Firmin, (London).

URGENT OPEN LETTER TO THE CWU POSTAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Jane Loftus, Ian Ward, Mark Baulch, Phil Browne, Noel McClean, Carl Maden, Lesley Mclean, Peter Donaghy, Joe Malone, John Farnan, Pat O'Hara, Steve Fishwick, Davie Robertson, Steve Jones, Bill Steel, Pete Keenlyside.

A personal statement by two long-serving Activists

Decisions taken at tomorrow’s Postal Executive count among the most important in our union’s whole history. We hope that before the meeting you will consider the points we raise here. There is great a tradition of loyalty among CWU Branches and membership for executive Council recommendations to end national disputes. Therefore if there is to be a ‘deal’ that falls far short of what CWU members believe they have been striking for, the responsibility tomorrow will be YOURS.

We hope you share our concerns, that talks on this ‘deal’ continued when Royal Mail were in the High Court.

We hope you share our anger that this week’s strikes were called off by our negotiators acting not upon an Executive discussion and vote, but a lawyer’s advice.

We believe that failure to address ALL of the points listed below should lead to the 'deal' being rejected. If you cannot agree that all our points are essential, then we hope you can agree that at least SOME of our issues of principle must not be sacrificed.

1. Written guarantee of no sackings of, or disciplinary action against any CWU reps or members.

2. Removal of any threat to close mail centres.

3. No agreement to national or local productivity deals that include losses of hours, Scheduled Attendances or duties. No agreement on national targeted savings in hours/ duties/jobs.

4. Current national agreements on duty schedules (the old ‘318’s) to remain.

5. No agreement to loss of overtime for taking on extra work over and above duty content.

6. No agreement to give managers rights to send staff to other offices, or other functions, unless agreed with the CWU locally.

7. No agreement to increase the ratio of part-time to full-time duties.

8. No loss of pension rights whatsoever, including those of new entrants.

9. No agreement to include Door to Door in workload, without the continuation of extra separate payment. No extra items without separate payment for each item as at present.

10. Continuation of Sunday collections. Joint talks to identify new work and improved services, e.g. same day deliveries.

11. A pay increase which, at least, keeps pace with inflation.

If the above points are not achieved, then please do not take upon yourselves the responsibility of selling out our members’ aspirations. You will not be forgiven if you do, by postal workers present, those retired, or those of the future.

If this strike is defeated by an Executive Council surrender tomorrow, followed by the usual depressing and intense immoral pressure on Branches and members to accept, then we believe that our union will decline until merged into something else, and our Post Office will be fully privatized within 5 years.

As we said, you have a heavy responsibility tomorrow.

Don’t bottle it!

Dave Chapple, Bridgwater/Bristol

Pete Firmin, London

SUNDAY 14TH OCTOBER 2007

[LondonUNISON]

Comment on this from another site:

If the NEC accept then this sounds like the good basis for a campaign in offices both for a no vote and for rank and file action to work to contract and to walkout against any management attempts to impose new working conditions.

However, more importantly than this activists should begin to seriously consider taking practical steps towards co-ordination of rank and file actions, through a netowrk of militants, leading to a national organisation that can bypass the leadership.

If that happens then perhaps the pessimistic conclusion of Pete and Dave's article can be avoided.

[ulster postie]

IF the p.e.c. dont take this letter on board, so be it, they will reap what they sow.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

[chayoliver]

TOTALLY AGREE BILLY HAYES WILL END UP GOING THE SAME WAY AS JOHN KEGGIE, AND YOUR RIGHT WHY THE HELL WERE WE STILL TALKING WHEN RM WERE AT THE HIGH COURT TRYING TO USE EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK TO STOP THE STRIKES, WHEN THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOLDING MEANINGFULL TALKS TO THRASH OUT A DEAL

[swerveington]

No more needs saying on that statement

[LondonUNISON]

Can this letter be sent round more widely? Any egroups or can people print it out and put it up on notice boards and stuff like that?

[Wild Rover]

I'd be inclined to forward it onto Leighton and Crozier also - just to show how much the employee cares about their job - unlike the higher management within RM who only care about pissing off the employee.

[POSTMAN]

Jane Loftus, Ian Ward, Mark Baulch, Phil Browne, Noel McClean, Carl Maden, Lesley Mclean, Peter Donaghy, Joe Malone, John Farnan, Pat O'Hara, Steve Fishwick, Davie Robertson, Steve Jones, Bill Steel, Pete Keenlyside.

Some of these are on here,although they haven't been on for a few days.
So i'm guessing they know the general feeling.

[opgpat]

Can we add no agreement to implement casual hours proposal?

Implemented, this would see DO managers having the power to ask ANYONE to come in 2hrs early or stay 2hrs later by giving the worker only 24hrs notice. I reckon if a manager wanted rid of someone they could mess him/her around using this power until the employee says 'no I need to collect my kids' and he is warned and the next time dismissed.

:cfo :lfo :cfo

[IWW Fellow Worker]

I've never met Pete Firmin, but we used to be on a messageboard for posties about six or seven years ago. I reckon he's a good bloke, as I also reckon Pete Keenlyside is. I'd like to see what comes of this because I think Pete Keenlyside is one man who won't forget where he came from.

[dvbuk55]

I notice an Ian WARD on the PEC. Now forgive an old cynic but please tell me he isn't a relative of Dave WARD

[Stockport]

There ar esome good points in this open letter. I suppose a lot of it is going to depend on what the NEC say, what managers do and getting a campaign for a no vote going as well as getting ready to resist any attempts by management to implement the new deal before it's voted on or even after.

I think a rank and file campaign for a no vote needs to be organised (if the NEC accept the deal) and it should be a real campaign with meetings in offcies and may be even public meetings? May be get other local trade unionsts to support? But the main thing is to get organised on the ground, in my opinion.

[stubaby]

I notice an Ian WARD on the PEC. Now forgive an old cynic but please tell me he isn't a relative of Dave WARD

Not related

there are some excellent people on our NEC who will make their own minds up and not be told which way to go.
the likes of Bob Gibson will not bow down and WILL speak his mind.
IMO there will be a split it depends which way is the majority.

[dw77]

Not a lot of awareness in the posts above about the position the union's in. Having messed up the notification and had this week's action ruled illegal, Ward and Hayes have effectively flushed four days of members pay down the toilet. To resume the action early next week means starting from square one - for the third time given Ward's masterstroke a month or so ago. I don't think the members are up for this nationwide - so further action risks splitting the union along geographical lines. So Ward and Hayes have essentially run out of cards and the best they can hope for is to salvage something from the mess they've made of the campaign. Whether they have done so or not we wont know until we see the deal - but the list of things people are asking for above looks to me completely unrealistic given where were at now.

[ulster postie]

SURE WE KNOW PIES BILLY COULDNT RUN A PISSUP IN NEWCASTLE, BUT THAT DOESNT MEAN THAT WE HAVE TO GO BELLY UP, WE MUST KEEP FIGHTING OR DIE TRYING. :cfo :lfo :cfo :lfo

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS