SSP workplace organiser Richie Venton takes stock

[stephen500]

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/s ... ties2.html
SSP workplace organiser Richie Venton takes stock of where the postal workers strike stands.
''As at 6pm on Thursday 18th October, postal workers who have staged solid, courageous and escalating strike action await the outcome of marathon meetings of the Communication Workers Union national executive committee, interspersed with ongoing talks with Royal Mail, wondering what the hell is happening.
This follows two powerful 48-hour strikes across the whole of Royal Mail, use of unelected judges to block the right to strike the following week - a brutal action taken by Royal Mail's millionaire bosses in the middle of the negotiations - and subsequently these talks leading to the union negotiators Billy Hayes and Dave Ward agreeing to take a new offer to the union NEC.

Leaks and rumours are rampant, but one thing is absolutely indisputable: the fact that the CWU NEC has met for the fourth consecutive day at time of writing proves that the offer is unacceptable to the NEC majority, and we believe that on the second day of their meeting a majority demanded amendments to the offer to be taken back into talks with the employers, whilst a minority on the NEC voted for total rejection of the deal on offer.

If details that have leaked out to sections of the media are accurate, then the offer falls drastically short of the union's demands, the expectations of those who braved management intimidation and took successive strike actions, and should be rejected in any ballot of the members, regardless of the recommendation of the union leadership.

On pay, the power of the strikes has forced some minor concessions, but again if the leaks are accurate, nothing like an acceptable increase to match inflation. The figure headlined is 6.9% over 2 years - but because it is staggered in different phases, at best it would mean 5.4% - well below inflation.
Another 1.5% rise is conditional on total implementation of the whole package of flexibility demanded by the cost-cutting Royal Mail bosses.

A lump sum of £175 has been thrown in to sweeten the pill, but it comes out of the Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOS), a bonus scheme which is about to be wound up anyway, with payouts of the earned bonuses due regardless of this pay offer. In short, the £175 is not new money, but cash taken from a postie's left pocket to his/her right pocket.



Pensions are another key issue. The details leaking are confused, but it seems certain Royal Mail want to abolish the Final Salary Pension Scheme for all new entrants from next year and raise retirement to 65. Those workers already in the FSPS could - leaks have it - still retire at 60, but lose thousands of pounds in benefits, which is in keeping with the deal just reached with Royal Mail managers, who will lose 5 per cent in pensions for every year below 65 they retire in future.
Some reports say a fudge is on offer to existing staff involving protection of existing benefits for those already in the pension scheme but new payments hereon into the inferior new pension scheme. Some posties have heard the pensions issue is being left aside for the future, separate from the pay deal, but that seems not to be the case; leaks suggest the union is being offered 'consultation' on pensions but only if they sign up to the changes in principle now, which is a brutal distortion of the meaning of 'consultation'.



A major source of the anger and bitterness that fuelled the unity of the strikes - including recent 'unofficial' strikes across the UK - is so-called flexibility.
The bosses want workers at their beck and call, not knowing what hours they have to work from one week to the next, including their starting or finishing times. Royal Mail bosses threatened later starting times in Delivery Offices, to avoid paying modest bonuses, at the early stage of the strikes. They then unilaterally imposed these the day after the most recent national strikes, which is what provoked some of the walkouts in London, Liverpool, Glasgow and elsewhere. As far as we know, this imposition by 'executive action' still stands in the 'new' offer, and in addition they want posties to accept 30 minute variations on the working day. That is, if there's a heavy workload one day managers can insist on posties working an extra half hour, but without overtime payment, instead getting the half hour back some time when the load is lighter. How can anyone plan their lives like that?


Also they expect posties to cover for workmates off sick or on holiday through increased workloads, without any additional payments. Likewise they seem to be demanding that Royal Mail workers be obliged to go to nearby offices and also work outside their normal duties - drivers delivering, delivery posties sorting, etc.
Perhaps most dangerous of all aspects of this offer, they want localised trials of flexibility. The danger is that weaker areas will be bullied into accepting anti-worker measures that will later be declared as acceptable nationally. The strength of the union as a protective shield for workers is that it's a national union, and that has been the power of the national strikes.

If the rumours and limited leaks are accurate, and unless talks currently ongoing produce radical improvements, this offer deserves the contempt of CWU members and their families who have suffered big wage losses by being forced to strike in defence of their jobs, pay, pensions and conditions, as well as the public service they deliver.
The offer appears to offer no protection from Mail Centre closures, wholesale redundancies or even victimisations, which have been meted out in the past couple of weeks by local bosses unleashed by their millionaire puppet-masters. For example CWU union reps with union facility time to represent the members have been punished in Glasgow, Edinburgh and across the UK by being ordered back to normal duties without the time to represent members.
Coming on top of the use of unelected judges to block the right to strike last week, these brutal retributions at local level are a harsh warning of the dangers of localised trials on 'flexibility'.
As a Scottish postie said to me, "I don't know what is on offer, but if it's as bad as the rumours say it should be thrown out by the members. It's not as if we were losing! The strikes were solid and the bosses were rattled. Massive backlogs had piled up, and the 'do the job properly' campaign [a work-to-rule] was biting them deep where it was carried out."


The impact of the strike is well known to any householder. Another illustration of it is the fact bosses had to hire special storage wagons to cope with the overflow of mail piled up at the Springburn Mail Centre. And the profiteering private operators have been proven incapable of stepping into the breach; they rely on Royal Mail posties to deliver their mail, whilst they stockpile profits with the help of subsidies in the rigged market.
And the readiness to fight amongst posties is proven by the wave of walkouts against imposed starting times, unfair deductions of pay, and victimisations of union reps that has swept London, Liverpool, Yorkshire, Oxford, Tyneside, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bathgate.


The power of the strikes forced Royal Mail bosses to the negotiating table. But they have been emboldened by the brutal intervention of Gordon Brown. The government is the sole shareholder in RM and could have solved the dispute in favour of the workforce and the public by Brown making one phone call to the RM axemen Crozier and Leighton. Instead Brown told strikers to "get back to work", and to accept pay that "conquers inflation"!
This highlights the absurdity of the CWU handing over affiliation fees and other donations to New Labour, amounting to £277,627 from February to June this year alone. The link between the CWU and Labour, and especially the loyalty of some key CWU leaders to Labour, hampers their ability to confront a government that is egging on Royal Mail bosses to slash jobs, pay, pensions and working conditions.


If the offer is like the leaks say, it should be rejected in any members' ballot, and other workers and socialists should continue to build support for these courageous fighters.''

[meoldcocker]

Reject it Totally
All we want is a decent pay rise with no strings
Leave our Pensions alone Remember Robert Maxwell
Other Unions and workers are in similar positions to us how about a Nationsl Strike :lfo :cfo