Postal workers left waiting as leaders seek compromise

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https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/post ... ompromise/

Union officials have held back from strikes as workers’ anger grows at attacks on working conditions and threats to thousands of jobs, writes Nick Clark

Postal workers are ­awaiting news on the future of their fight to defend their pay and jobs. CWU union leaders had said ­earlier this month that they hoped to sign off on a final deal with bosses by last Sunday.

The workers have been ­fighting to stop Royal Mail bosses ­transforming the service into a gig economy style parcels courier, with pay and conditions to match. The plans involve sweeping attacks on working conditions, and threaten thousands of jobs.

Bosses have already begun ­bringing in new starters on worse pay and conditions, and are forcing through cuts to make delivery and collection routes much longer and harder. But the CWU union leaders haven’t called any strikes since December.

And earlier this month, union leaders signed a statement with Royal Mail bosses agreeing to ­cooperate with local changes. CWU general secretary Dave Ward pessimistically said a pay agreement was “not going to be easy because of the company’s finances.”

Meanwhile, suspended union reps and members—some 200—are left at the mercy of an ­“independent review.” One collections worker at Bristol’s mail centre told Socialist Worker that local changes had left most workers feeling very angry.

“As soon as you mention it, they just go off on one,” he said. “The company are only doing this for the money, not to provide a service.

“But that’s what people signed up for. I’ve stayed in this job for this long because it’s a good job, and you’re doing a service—and I’ve heard other people say the same thing more than once.”

He said that collections are ­“failing”—not being completed—“all over the place” because they are now too long. He added, “At delivery offices it’s just impossible as they’re ­cutting routes and compressing them into each other.


“The managers are banking on not every address having to be delivered to every day. But if a charity does a mail out, then every address will have to be seen, and the workload will be massive.”

Surjit, another collections worker in Coventry, said that after so long without action, and after the statement with bosses, “The mood is sombre. People are tired. Some are still up for a fight. “We’ve had a long break without action, haven’t we? “That seems to be a pattern in every industry—the RMT union called off Network Rail strikes for talks.

“We could have carried on ­striking—you’ve got to keep the ball rolling, keep the fire burning.” But, he added, workers will still have to vote on any deal that union leaders and bosses reach.

“It’s got to be put to us—it won’t be a cast-iron thing,” he said. Workers can and should reject any deal that doesn’t protect their pay, jobs and service, and demand a schedule of more strikes—coordinated with other workers when possible—to win.