Union in talks which could end post strike

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... 5689728.jp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There was a glimmer of hope today of an end to the postal strike which has brought chaos to mail deliveries to homes and businesses across Peterborough.
Union officials and Royal Mail managers are expected to begin talks to end the industrial dispute which has seen up to 1,000 postal workers refuse to collect and deliver mail for short periods over the last few months.

Peterborough businesses and residents have been hit hard by the latest two 24-hour strikes, which started on Monday, with letters, bills and invoices remaining undelivered.

More than 400 staff at Peterborough delivery office in Papyrus Road, Werrington walked out at 9pm on Monday and remained on strike until 9pm yesterday.

Network drivers and collection drivers walked out on strike at 4am yesterday until 4am today, affecting all post in the PE1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 areas of the city.

Area representative for the Communication Workers Union (CWU) Mark Cooke said talks were taking place between the union and the Royal Mail.

He added that it was hoped progress would be made soon.

Mr Cooke said: "The strikes have been very well supported, as they always are in Peterborough.

"Members are taking action and supporting the cause, and we have had about 400 people taking part.

"We will be sitting down with the Royal Mail today, and hope that we will be able to move forward in the very near future."

The strikes were called after the Royal Mail said it would be introducing a change in working conditions.

The CWU claim that the changes will put 42 jobs at risk, as well as meaning staff working longer hours without getting an increase in pay.

Last week the Royal Mail called for unions to "stop hurting customers" and end the strikes.

But today a Royal Mail spokesperson added that negotiations were taking place on a regular basis.

She said: "We are in touch with the union on a virtually daily basis – we have held more than 70 meetings with the union in recent months and the door is still open to further talks."

The latest strikes to hit the city are part of national industrial action that has seen 89 million items of post undelivered.

Following strikes in Peterborough in August and earlier this month more than half a million pieces are backed up at the city's sorting office, the second highest amount outside of London.

[Pat Ostman]

Royal Mail & CWU agree to 12 week period of consultation?

Well I was going to reply to the other topic as it had an opinion posted, but I cant see anywhere where it says there will be a few months of no strike promises in that article.

Still, I did have only a few hours sleep last night

[Stumpy]

I am thinking that this article refers to the union and management in Peterborough and not the national negotiations.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Sounds like a journo putting together 2 + 2 and coming up with 4.5 I think. Nothing new in the article I think.

[superfox]

Check the post made by Punyetta on http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... 5689728.jp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; also there was a rumour at work today that some type of deal was done

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Check the post made by Punyetta on http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... 5689728.jp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; also there was a rumour at work today that some type of deal was done

Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed to 12 week period of consultation. This will endure as long as Royal do not impose any working practises by Executive Action and the CWU halt all Industrial Action. This is a win for Royal Mail as they have stalled their march on progress and avoided disruption to the service for the forthcoming Christmas pressure period. Call me cynical, but what will the CWU have as leverage once Christmas has passed. The New Year should be an interesting time!

IIRC that's the 3 month moratorium that the CWU offered back in June and Royal Mail rejected as a "Ploy" to stop modernisation . I think the poster has picked up on that and what the local rep said and has misinterpreted it. At least that's what I am hoping as this is the only News item I can find about it, and I am pretty sure it would be a major news item on Sky and BBC24 if it had happened.

[BELIAL]

Trouble for the CWU is ,if they fail to deliver a gold plated Knobs and all agreement this time then they are history So management up the anti ,but it could well backfire

[gus]

young forward thinking men/women needed to carry cwu forward people who look the part and willing to challenge RM
for the good of its members ,current crop sound like a broken record revamp badly needed .More legal input also to stop
this continual abuse of workers rights ,lets get a bit more dynamic.

[chewi]

Our area rep says "that talks are moving forward and a deal is close" but he doesn't give any detail

However the rumours are 5 hour deliveries and unpaid meal reliefs(36 hour week) but this is just from old timers who expect to be sold out -sorry move with the times.

[Big Daz]

It is alleged that there has been some mischief making at Peterborough in terms of paper based information that looks like it is from the CWU but in reality is FAKE!!!!

[Martin Walsh]

Rest assured we are not close to a deal by a long way !!

[heathrow86]

The question is when a deal is finally made, i assume we will be balloted on it. If so how will people vote? after the 2007 strikes the Network drvers were balloted on the Professional Drivers Agreement, which gave us monthly pay, higher wages but we were not paid for our breaks & public holidays were normal days for us. Just a few months in people realised the deal was not as good as it seemed due to many factors mainly not being paid for breaks, holidays etc. We were fooled by the headlines of the agreement.

I hope this doesn't happen on this issue.

[NWpostie]

to prevent another foul up, we MUST read it all the way through and discuss the implications and not be blinded by any bribes, this can also be done on here RMC as well as between work colleagues, we3 MUST not fcuk this one up otherwise we will be in for another fight in 2 years time as we have found with Way Forward Pay & Modernisation agreement 2007.

[Red Postie]

The CWU's proposals to Royal Mail since conference is for a 3 month strike ban, combined with local negotiations on executive action taken so Royal Mail gets half of what it already has imposed in each office. This has regularly come out in mailings to reps and members.

The question is, is a decent deal really possible without a strike? No, so any delay much less a strike ban plus local negotiations would be a disaster.

So let's start lobbying the PEC now and getting resolutions through branches, workplace meetings, and section meetings. It's our union, our ballot and our dispute, let's take control of it!

[the one]

The CWU's proposals to Royal Mail since conference is for a 3 month strike ban, combined with local negotiations on executive action taken so Royal Mail gets half of what it already has imposed in each office. This has regularly come out in mailings to reps and members.

The question is, is a decent deal really possible without a strike? No, so any delay much less a strike ban plus local negotiations would be a disaster.

So let's start lobbying the PEC now and getting resolutions through branches, workplace meetings, and section meetings. It's our union, our ballot and our dispute, let's take control of it!

well said m8, agree 100%