Jobs more important than shares, says CWU

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/jobs-mo ... s-cwu.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

The Communication Workers Union says it is confident that postal workers will vote for strike action in tomorrow's Royal Mail ballot result as the company's share price soars further on the full day of trading.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "The Royal Mail share price has soared further today, bringing more proof that the company was undervalued by the government's city mates. The taxpayer has lost over £1 billion already in this bungled fire sale of a cherished national institution. Postal workers cannot trade their shares for three years and they are far more concerned about their jobs than the share price. We're confident our members will return a yes vote in tomorrow's ballot result for strike action, strengthening our position to secure a deal on protecting jobs, services and terms and conditions in the company.

"The share price increase is making profits for wealthy private investors and faceless institutions - it's not bringing any money into Royal Mail. The investment argument is a clear myth.

"We will not accept people maximising individual profit on the back of minimising the value, terms and conditions of postal workers. We're determined this privatisation will not lead to the kind of job losses and downward pressure on pay and conditions we've seen in other industries and we're seeking a legally-binding agreement to protect jobs."

Shares have peaked at 490p during trading this morning (Tuesday), up from their original price of 330p when the company was floated last Friday - an increase of almost 50%.

Members meet at Mount Pleasant

At an open-air meeting in north London this morning, Dave delivered the fighting message to hundreds of postal workers: "The privatisation battle is over - but the war to protect pay, jobs, terms and conditions is on."

Gathering in the car park of Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant site, hard-working CWU members heard Dave spell out the union's pledge that, regardless of who owns the company, the union will never cease in its efforts to protect jobs, pay, terms and conditions.

In response to national news broadcasters' focus on the soaring share price of the company, Dave said: "It's postal workers who have turned this company round, and we're not accepting privateers maximising their profits by minimising the value of our members' job, terms and conditions.

"Our battle is about dealing with the impact of privatisation on our members - it's the battle we always knew was coming.

"We want an agreement that will fully protect the interests of our members for the foreseeable future and to be legally binding and to set the benchmark for the industry as a whole," he explained.

CWU London region secretary, Jim Kirwan, said that the morning meeting had been "extremely well-attended" and that the key message had been "crystal clear".

"We're fighting for the pay, terms and conditions of our members under a private company and we're not accepting what's on the table," he pointed out.

Jim added that the share price increase proved "that this is a profitable company - profits created by our members - and this is a profitable sector.

"Our task now is to fight to prevent any race to the bottom and to strengthen our organisation and recruit and organise right across the sector across all companies," he insisted.

The ballot result will be announced around 3pm tomorrow afternoon. The result will be press-released and uploaded to the union's website http://www.cwu.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and communicated via the union's Twitter account @CWUnews.

[Shambles]

nice one Dave, Jim...we're mostly All behind you