http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... radeunions
Extending post office banking capabilities will strengthen the network, says Billy Hayes
* Billy Hayes
* The Guardian,
* Thursday October 16 2008
* Article history
Jon Cruddas provides a clear and practical opportunity for both government-backed banking and a successful sustainable post office network (A ready made People's Bank, October 13).
He notes that "the demand for fairness, security and trust grows by the day", and with deposits in the Post Office and National Savings & Investments soaring, there is clear demand for government-backed banking. The underlying irony here is that the failure in the banking system could provide the perfect opportunity to strengthen the post office network, revitalising it as the shop front for both government and mail services.
A more immediate concern, rightly flagged up by Cruddas, is the future of the post office card account, which is used by some of the most financially vulnerable in society and provides crucial income and stability to the post office network. Currently - and "disgracefully", as Cruddas says - out to tender, this core service cannot be allowed to fall into private hands regardless of how "competitive" the tender may be.
My union has written to James Purnell, work and pensions secretary, urging him to end the uncertainty. If the Post Office does not win this vital contract then there will be thousands of further closures across the country. This is a scenario that neither communities nor Labour can afford. At the same time, we can respond to current needs by extending post office banking capabilities, which will strengthen the network.
A vibrant post office network must be fully integrated with a modern state-owned mail industry. The Communication Workers Union fully supports Cruddas's call for "the government [to] halt the ongoing break-up of Royal Mail and its subsidiary Post Office Ltd and reconstruct them as key institutions". There is a fundamental interdependence between Royal Mail and the Post Office which governs the success of each.
Purnell and Peter Mandelson, the business secretary, must develop a united sustainable vision for the future of the post office network. In addition to Cruddas's call for the £150m social network payment to be extended after 2011, we believe it should help fund post offices in deprived urban areas as well as rural ones.
In the mail industry we have experienced the introduction of unfair competition which has brought no benefits to domestic or small-business customers. The CWU is concerned that Richard Hooper's soon-to-be-published report on UK postal services will pose a further threat of privatisation to Royal Mail. Cruddas focused on issues of trust, fairness and accountability, arguing the need to "furnish crucial areas of public interest with publicly accountable, state-owned institutions". The post is an area of public and economic interest which must not be undermined by the neoliberal ambitions of chairmen like the Royal Mail's Allan Leighton.
The mail industry faces many uncertainties. It is well within the government's power to answer the demand for secure banking - not just through bank bail-outs, but by taking the opportunity to use the Post Office to its full potential and backing a People's Bank.
• Billy Hayes is general secretary of the Communication Workers Union bhayes@cwu.org