East coast postal workers on the march
Postal workers: Industrial strength needed to defend jobs and conditions
by Tam Dewar, CWU Area Delivery Rep for Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway (personal
capacity)
The last national Postal strike in 2007 was concluded when the CWU and
Royal Mail agreed a process to negotiate change in response to new technology.
This Pay and Modernisation Agreement, endorsed by 60% of the membership,
laid out a four phase process to conclude by April 2009 in a new pay
and reward scheme and methods of working in Delivery.
From 2007 till 2009 the CWU agreed changes locally through the PMA which resulted in massive savings to Royal Mail.
Some units were rewarded by
a 50/50 bonus scheme, most units received no bonus. Lump sum awards and
a 1.5% increase in basic pay in 2008 was largely self funded. Royal Mail
has now walked away from the final phase of this Agreement, not only
announcing a pay freeze, at a time of growing company profits, but introducing
changes to working practises which affect members earnings and job security.
Royal Mail have a view of future delivery jobs being largely part time.
The recent CWU national conference in Bournemouth was dominated by requests
for industrial action from units throughout the UK in response to Royal
Mail’s misuse and eventual abrogation of the Pay and Modernisation Agreement.
Many members feel that if Royal Mail can walk away from this agreement
then the CWU should declare the PMA dead and return to established ways
of working. It is worthy of note that the Postal Executive which endorsed
this Agreement was returned to office with around 10% of the membership
voting.
Postal workers in the East of Scotland were the first to use the collective
power of the CWU to resist the RM model of “Modernisation” spreading
eastwards. Their action had such an effect on the service that Ayrshire
managers (members of Unite) were ‘drafted’ to deliver mail. Now that
members from the Ayrshire Coast will take to the picket line to explain
their case, these managers will be occupied in Ayrshire.
Members in my home unit of Irvine took strike action on Saturday 20th
June in response to Royal Mail managers who ignore agreements with the
Union on working practises, only after months of talks at local level
have been exhausted.
This may well be a prolonged action given the complete inability or unwillingness
of senior RM managers to pay due regard to the wishes of the men and
women who deliver and collect the mail. Although Irvine DO is the first
to take action they will be followed by other units in Ayrshire unless
Royal Mail negotiate “modernisation” plans.
Although the Irvine strike is local, in that it concerns the abuse of working practises and the intimidation and threats against senior serving and part time staff, it illustrates the attitudes of RM managers to national and local agreements. We need the protection, at local bargaining level, of a strong Union with national bargaining power.
In addition CWU members face the possible “Part Privatisation” of Royal
Mail by a Labour Government elected with a mandate from the British electorate
to maintain RM in public ownership. Likewise the Leadership of the CWU
believed they had a similar commitment from the Labour Party through
the “Warwick Agreement”.
My old Aunt, who read palms and tea leafs, had more accurate powers of prediction than the Leadership of the CWU have managed over what Labour will do next. Prior to the release of the Hooper report we were told that the CWU had a good working relationship with the Business Secretary John Hutton and that Labour would fulfil the “Warwick Agreement”. The very next day Hutton was replaced by Lord Mandelson, “Warwick” was forgotten and Labour intended to privatise Royal Mail. At a briefing in May we were told that the Prime Minster need CWU help out of the privatisation hole, Mandelson would be moved and the CWU view would prevail.
Less than two weeks later the PM’s jacket is on a slack nail and Lord Mandelson rules supreme, showing no sign of backing off Privatisation. Not a lot of return for the £1m of CWU members money flowing into Labour coffers. On a more positive note the CWU have run a faultless campaign to influence the public and politicians on Royal Mail privatisation.
It would make
more sense to spend the political fund on more of the same as the legislative
programme rolls on.
That it should be a Labour Government which proposes privatisation of Postal jobs holds it own paradox for Irvine workers. A clandestine meeting of the newly formed Ayrshire Miners Union met on Irvine Moor in 1887 to adopt resolutions advocating “the formation of a Labour Party in the House of Commons“. The Ayrshire miners, following the lead of James Keir Hardie, realised that industrial strength and political representation of the working class in parliament were necessary to change society for the better. Now that the political representation has been corrupted, despite the views of ordinary Labour members, we depend even more on our industrial strength to defend jobs and conditions.