LTB 604/09 - Lord Mandelson’s Statement

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 604/09
Ref: 24207
Date: 10th July 2009



TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS


Dear Colleague


Lord Mandelson’s Statement


In giving evidence this week to the Common’s Business Committee Lord Mandelson chose to launch a bitter attack on the CWU, accusing the Union of reneging on the 2007 Pay and Modernisation deal and generally opposing change and all Royal Mail’s attempts to modernise.

It is clear Lord Mandelson’s attack has been timed to respond to both growing industrial action and the CWU’s “Keep the Post Public Campaign” which was instrumental in getting the Government to shelve plans for privatisation.

We want Branches to know that the Union will be rebutting Lord Mandelson’s statement in a formal letter to Government and we will be accusing him of deliberately misleading a Parliamentary Select Committee.

In a separate development we have also become aware that some Royal Mail managers are handing out copies of Lord Mandelson’s statement in order to undermine current support for industrial action. Therefore, we would ask Branches to convey the content of this LTB to our members as a direct response to Royal Mail’s actions.

Pay and Modernisation

Royal Mail has confirmed that every office in the country had fully co-operated with the first 3 phases of Pay and Modernisation. This involved their own independent audit process and their Headquarters signing off all local agreements before any monies linked to the agreement were released to our members. Furthermore, the company continue to boast about how many job losses there have already been and the fact that in years 2008/2009 they outperformed all of their financial targets.

The company have publicly stated, consistently, that the reason for improved performance has been deployment of the Pay and Modernisation Agreement. The truth is where there are problems with the agreement it has been the fact that management abuse flexibility and continue to adopt bullying tactics to impose change.

Where the agreement has been unequivocally broken is where Royal Mail’s senior management has walked away from the 4th phase of the deal, which clearly stated that the company were committed to further negotiations and further national agreements in the crucial areas of Mail Centres, Delivery and Network strategies, including the introduction of automation and better reward for our members.


The Union has already written to MP’s explaining the facts and we want to assure you that we will now focus our attention on ensuring Lord Mandelson understands the fact that Royal Mail are the party who have reneged on the deal. You would have thought this should not prove too difficult given that both Lord Mandelson and the Hooper Report correctly identified, at an earlier stage, the senior Royal Mail’s management team’s lack of transparency – the company’s lack of expertise to run a postal operation and their failure to engage the Union and the workforce.


Lord Mandelson’s previous criticisms of Royal Mail are more relevant today than when the Hooper Report was first published.


Modernisation


The CWU and Royal Mail have a completely different view of what modernisation really means. What Royal Mail is doing now in Units up and down the country is not modernisation. They are not bringing forward new machines, neither are they investing in the staff and better equipment. Royal Mail are not developing new and better services fit for the 21st Century, neither are they providing better value for the customer. They are not providing their workforce with more rewarding and secure jobs. Instead they are randomly cutting jobs and turning full time posts into part time. Delivery times are getting later and more erratic. Staff are being bullied to try and achieve impossible budget targets. Increasingly, decisions are being taken purely on the basis of short-term financial need as opposed to the needs of the service as a whole.

Far from opposing modernisation, the CWU has been for a long time the only organisation demanding it. We are for new machines and equipment that deliver a more efficient service and make the jobs of our members easier. What we ask for, though, is that these changes are brought in by agreement and that our members share in the benefits. We are for improving the service and developing the new services that will secure our members jobs in the future. We are for decent industrial relations where the Union and its members are treated as equal partners. We are for a Royal Mail run democratically with input from both the community it serves and the workforce through their Unions. We are for a well-paid and well-motivated workforce. We believe that this is what a modernised Royal Mail should look like. Achieving this is what our current dispute is all about.


Yours sincerely,





Billy Hayes Dave Ward
General Secretary Deputy General Secretary (P)

[k979aaa]

And they NEW LABOUR had in their manifesto the postal service will remain in wholly pubic ownership!. DID HE :mfo NOT RENEGE ON NEW LABOURS MANIFESTO PROMISE WE CAN NOT BELIEVE A WORD THIS PARASITE SAYS!. :mfo

[Stormproof]

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Mandelsonres/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Petition for Mandelsons resignation

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Mandelsonres/ Petition for Mandelsons resignation

Deadline to sign up by: 19 December 2009 – Signatures: 27