FIGHTING FOR THEFUTURE
Terms and conditions and saving Royal Mail are the focus of the struggle, says union rep
Blairgowrie based postal workers have said industrial action being undertaken by members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) as part of an ongoing dispute with Royal Mail is as much about fighting for the survival of the business as it is about pay and terms and conditions.
Staff returned to the picket line last week and further strike action has been planned for six more days in December, subject to ongoing negotiations.
A CWU spokesperson told the Blairie: “Royal Mail bosses are decimating the business.”
The spokesperson added: “We don’t want to be striking, we want to be working, we’re losing money but we’re doing this for our customers.
“We would forfeit any wage rise as long as they left alone the terms and conditions and actually started giving us enough staff to complete the mail and enough tools to do the job.”
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country.”
Blairgowrie-based posties returned to the picket line last week in the latest industrial action being undertaken by members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) as part of an ongoing dispute with Royal Mail.
And they stressed that the dispute is as much about fighting for the survival of the 500 yearold business as it is about pay and terms and conditions.
A spokesperson for the CWU told the Blairie: “Royal Mail bosses are decimating the business.
“The Universal Service Obligation to deliver the mail is still in effect but we’re failing it every day.
“There are 26 duties in the
Blairgowrie office but the growth in this area is phenomenal, and there are less posties and less hours now to cover that.
“They’re now talking about taking a further three duties out of the Blairgowrie office.
“The public are being failed and it’s not through the fact that posties aren’t working, we’re doing all the overtime that we can but we still can’t clear it.
“They’re putting in 100 hours overtime a week in the Blairgowrie office alone.”
The spokesperson said that the cuts had been going on for some time.
“They are reducing the staff numbers, they’re talking about needing to get rid of either 10,000 or 25,000 posties depending on who you speak to but, at the same time, they want owner-drivers in to replace the people they get rid of.
“They’ve got 11,000 agency staff across the UK.
“The two-tier workforce is a big issue.
“We work a 37-hour week. They are now hiring guys on a 40-hour a week contract, paying them 20 per cent less, and through people retiring, ill health, being made redundant, this is eventually going to be the majority of the workforce. It’s levelling down and it puts the staff in a precarious position.
“They just want, basically, to break the union, to de-recognise it so that later on they can do what they want without any opposition.
“It’s not about making the business more efficient, it’s about getting more money for the shareholders.
“None of the price increases are being reinvested in the company. They’ve stopped giving us uniform, we’re not getting a Christmas bonus, our van fleet is falling apart, we’ve got hire vans that are costing us a fortune and they don’t replace the vans anymore.”
The spokesperson explained some of the demands that were being made by Royal Mail on staff.
He said: “They want to introduce annualised hours, they want seasonal hours, and they want to be able to say to posties when they turn up on any given day that they’re not
needed that day but to come in the next day. They want to get rid of the allowances we get for driving, early starts, that sort of thing, so we’re actually in effect paying for this poor wage rise that we’re seemingly getting.
“They want us to start two or three hours later which for local businesses is a huge deal – you wouldn’t be getting your mail until 1pm at the earliest – and they’re wanting us out until 10pm just like DPD and the rest of them.
“The nine per cent pay offer that they keep referring to – it’s not nine per cent. They’ve given us two per cent but we’ve only got four months left of this financial year and we’re not getting it backdated, so by the time it’s implemented it’s going to be about one and a half per cent.
“Sick pay, ill health and retirement are all getting decimated. It’s a stressful job, there’s a lot of pressure on posties now.”
The spokesperson added: “The union has put forward so many arguments for how they can grow the business and yet we’re being told by bosses that we won’t modernise.
“Sixteen months ago we had an agreement called the Pathway to Change which set out a pathway to modernisation, but Royal Mail walked away from that despite having agreed to it.”
And they questioned how profits made during the coronavirus pandemic had been spent, commenting: “Before Covid they were looking at a loss of between £500 and £600 million.
“We all worked through Covid, we didn’t get furloughed, and they ended up with a profit of £758m. You know what they did with that? The chief executive gave himself a bonus of £1.3m, they gave in total £440m to the shareholders, and then in September this year they gave another £139m to the shareholders and yet we’re being told we’re losing £1m a day.
“If we’re losing £1m a day could you not have kept some of that £500 or million that you paid to shareholders?
“The figures don’t add up, it’s gross mismanagement.
“We don’t want to be striking, we want to be working, we’re losing money but we’re doing this for our customers.
“We would forfeit any wage rise as long as they left alone the terms and conditions and actually started giving us enough staff to complete the mail and enough tools to do the job.
“We were promised that privatisation would give us investment, that there would be money there for us but it’s just worse now.
“We don’t get paid to strike, we’ve got single mums here, young families with mortgages, all in a cost of living crisis. This is beyond pay and terms and conditions now, we’re actually fighting to save Royal Mail and the service that we all hold so dear and which provides a lifeline to so many, particularly in rural communities like ours.”
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said: “The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country. We apologise to our customers and strongly urge them to post early for Christmas.
“We are proud to have the best pay and conditions in our industry. In an industry dominated by the ‘gig economy’, insecure work, and low pay, our model sets us apart and we want to preserve it.
“Despite losing more than £1million a day, we have made a best and final pay offer worth up to nine per cent.
“Strike action has already cost our people £1,000 each and is putting more jobs at risk. The money allocated to the pay deal should be going to our people, but it risks being eaten away by the costs of further strike action.
“We once again urge the CWU to call off strike action. We remain available to meet to discuss our best and final offer.”