RM sell-off will lead to seven-day service says Lib Dem Peer

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail sell-off will lead to seven-day service, says Lib Dem peer

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Lord Razzall dismisses campaigners' concerns, predicting improvement in service will follow controversial move to privatise

The privatisation of the Royal Mail will be such a success that it will lead to seven-day postal deliveries within five years, it was claimed on Tuesday.

Lord Razzall, the Liberal Democrat Trade and Industry spokesman in the Lords, said he was so convinced of the success of the controversial sell-off venture that he predicted a major improvement in service.

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow, sponsored by the Communications Workers Union, Razzall declared: "I will make a prediction that in five years we will have a seven-day-a-week Royal Mail service and the Royal Mail will have bought one of the major operators in continental Europe."

The coalition government announced its intention to privatise the Royal Mail earlier this month.

However, the plans have already run into fierce opposition from the trade unions, angry that the government intends to sell off one of the country's last remaining public utilities.

Speaking at the meeting, which was chaired by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, Razzall made it clear he was fully behind the privatisation.

He said it would improve the quality of the service and pave the way for a massive investment of capital in the business while retaining all the best parts of the Royal Mail's current country-wide operation.

Razzall dismissed concerns that the Royal Mail's universal service obligation – which requires it to deliver letters six days a week to anywhere in the country – would be scrapped after privatisation.

He stated: "It is enshrined in legislation that no alteration to the universal service obligation can be changed until 2021 without a resolution in both Houses of Parliament."

And he asked: "Do we really believe, even after 2021, that legislation is not going to protect the Royal Mail?"

Razzall argued that the explosion in internet shopping would be the catalyst for Royal Mail to thrive in private hands and, as a Liberal Democrat, he said he was delighted that the government was building employee ownership into the sell off.

Mario Dunn, the campaign director of the Save Our Royal Mail campaign, told the audience that the sell-off would result in cuts to deliveries, cuts in staff numbers, a worse service and shareholder profits instead of service investment.

Dunn said: "The only way shareholders can get a return on their investment is by raising the price or cutting services."

He warned that a further consequence would be the impact on community services, particularly in rural areas like the Highlands of Scotland.

"People in rural areas will see their service cut to five times a week, then four, then three," he said.

And Dunn added that the impact on small businesses would be severe with the expected rise in the price of sending packets and parcels enough to drive some of them out of business.

"It's a race for the bottom, not a race for the top," he argued.

The audience was split, with many Liberal Democrats supporting the privatisation plans as a way of improving and modernising the service – but only with the proviso that the liberal principle of employee ownership had to be a key part of the government's plans.

Lord Razzall and Mario Dunn were speaking at the Guardian's fringe event at the Liberal Democrat conference, sponsored by the Communications Workers Union, which supports the Save Our Royal Mail campaign.

[Lounge Lizard]

Yes, seven days work for five days pay.

[Pinky 1]

Well i'm in deliveries, and if you think i'm working Sunday you can go and get fecked

[fishtank]

Seven days a month?

[Darren Bent]

I will not accept this as I want to keep dancing on Friday/Saturday night and I am not interested in getting up early on Sunday

[UnhappyGremlin]

Which would suggest that those of us who predicted an attack on T&C's were right.
Working on a Sunday is beneficial only to the company (and customers, if they're in).
It means we would end up on contracts similar to those of supermarket workers.
A 5 over 7 contract, which means you'd work 5 days out of 7, and have zero say in pattern. Some of them work 10 days straight.

But I think this is a nonsense anyway, as they'd have to hire s**t loads more staff to cover it, if it was full deliveries. Which it won't be, heard this rumour a while back, and according to my boss it's for parcels only.
So, misleading claims then, to destroy the claims made by the S.O.R.M. campaign.

Anyway, who believes anything that comes out of the mouth of a Lib-Dem?

[Godric]

Seven days a month?

that is nearer the truth mate

[Spedley]

What exactly would you deliver on a Sunday? ... Junk!

Mail volumes already dip on Tuesday from nothing much being posted over the weekend so all you'd be delivering on Sunday is leaflets and cheap 2nd class mailings trying to land on your doorstep on a Sunday to sell you something.

[baldrick]

More likely to be 2 or 3 times a week, every other day Monday-Friday, like Holland.
Lord Razzall is out of touch with reality like most Libdems, and his party's manifesto at the last General Election was against full privatisation of Royal Mail. They said they wanted a 'John Lewis' style partnership and only 51% share selloff iirc.

[janitor]

Most politicians are out of touch with reality.

[stephen500]

Royal Mail spent a lot of time trying to persuade us, and succeeded, in getting Sunday collections.
Then some time later, scrapped them as too expensive.
It was just a game of "do as we say", even if it was stupid.

[Stormproof]

As if anyone is going to listen to a Lib Dem, let alone one called Razzall ffs!