Royal Mail workers in Scotland speak against USO pilots: “The CWU is trying to dress this up”

[stage3]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/ ... -m10.html

Tony Robson

Royal Mail workers at Newton Mearns and Cumbernauld delivery offices in Scotland have spoken out against the “USO reform” pilot scheme being implemented at their workplace.

Delivery workers told World Socialist Web Site reporting teams last week that they were facing impossible workloads.


Delivery driver stops to take PWRFC leaflet
Jointly implemented by Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), the pilots are trialling an “Optimised Delivery Model” aimed at dismantling the Universal Service Obligation (USO). This follows USO reform proposals announced by Ofcom in January.

Ofcom’s recommendations are for downgrading the frequency and speed of mail deliveries. The regulator has dismissed the USO requirement for mail deliveries six-days-a-week to 32 million UK households as an “unfair financial burden” on the company.

The “reform” of the USO is set to deliver £300 million worth of cuts via job destruction and changes to work practices in support of a parcel-led business under new owners EP Group led by billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Workers at Newton Mearns and Cumbernauld are being pushed into the first phase of the pilot scheme that will soon cover 37 delivery units across the UK.

Newton Mearns, 7 miles southwest of Glasgow city centre, employs around 30 postal staff. It is the only delivery office in the pilot scheme to have gone live from the last week in February.


Newton Mearns delivery office
The choice of such a small delivery office to launch the pilots is telling. It is being used as a test site for measures aimed at restructuring the mail service nationally, across 1,200 delivery units. The staggered implementation of the pilot scheme across 37 delivery offices from the end of March to the middle of May is designed to minimise adverse publicity from the inevitable disruption.

A CWU Live event in February saw Tony Bouch, CWU Outdoor Secretary, claim that members at pilot sites in Scotland had been well briefed and were “engaged” in the process by union reps.

But postal workers were never consulted, let alone balloted, over the CWU’s adoption of Royal Mail’s “Optimised Delivery Model” that will slash the mail service and overhaul working practices.

Instead, the CWU has conducted workplace polls on new duty patterns, with the pilots portrayed as giving workers additional Saturdays off. At both Newton Mearns and Cumbernauld, staff voted for the two Saturdays off every five weeks. But the new duty pattern means longer working hours on weekdays and hiked up workloads. Extra Saturdays are a Trojan horse being used to enforce a new benchmark of exploitation.

At Newton Mearns last Thursday, fallout from the pilot was evident. The narrow road leading up to the office was congested as delivery drivers returned to the yard. Drivers said they had been unable to complete their duties based on the new route coverage model, which included tracked packets and mail.

Failures were occurring even though the delivery office had its full complement of staff, plus an additional one or two workers. A far cry from the chronic understaffing which prevails at delivery offices across the UK.

As for the CWU’s claim that workers had been fully briefed by the CWU, a postie explained: 'The main grievance everyone has is the lack of clarity. The walkers are being hit hardest but we have now been informed they will only be rotated (with driving duties) every five weeks. That is meant to deal with fatigue! This was not what we were led to believe at the start of the pilot, that the rotation would be weekly.'

At Cumbernauld delivery office the pilot is earmarked to go live from March 17. On Wednesday, the mood among postal workers was one of anger and foreboding, “I hate everything about this pilot”, one worker said as he rushed in and took a leaflet. The general sentiment was that the CWU is untrustworthy and part of management, with workers treated as fodder and moved around from their duties, “The union rep does the rotas, that tells you something,” added the postie.


Cumbernauld delivery office
Another postal worker spoke about conditions at the office and the need for a broader fightback, “It’s a shambles. The office is not clearing even before the pilot begins. Duties are not covered when people are off. Tracked parcels are prioritised over letters by managers. We get told to take mail out and ring the manager later if we are unable to complete. We are never told to bring back parcels, only letters.


“The 2023 agreement [between management and union to end a long-standing dispute] was a total sellout, we are working later and later and heading towards 6 p.m. We were not consulted about this pilot, only the vote on duty patterns. The majority voted for two in five Saturdays off, which is an improvement, but it does not make up for longer hours in the week and added work.

“The CWU is trying to dress this up. The new entrants are struggling to get their entitled meal breaks, which are unpaid. I've been following what has been happening in the America. [US President Donald] Trump and [oligarch Elon] Musk are gutting everything. I think Kretinsky is cut from the same cloth. Look at Netherlands Post, which he has a major share in, they are in big trouble. He will gut the mail service and asset strip. I agree this is an international issue”.

WSWS reporters distributed copies of a Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee statement, “Call workplace meetings at Royal Mail delivery offices to oppose the USO pilots”. There was strong interest in the statement, with several workers signing up to receive the PWRFC newsletter.

At Baird Street delivery office in Glasgow (G1-5), which is not part of the USO pilots, workers reported the de facto run down of the mail service with widespread failures and chronic understaffing. The exodus of senior posties, forced out through impossible workloads, victimisation and bullying, meant the office was short by around 20 staff, roughly a quarter of the requirement.


Baird Street delivery office
Many issues came up in discussion. One worker asked how the mail service could be defended when similar attacks on the USO were taking place across Europe? He responded positively to the call by the PWRFC for a global fightback linking workers in the post and logistics sector across Europe and North America against oligarchs and corporate vultures engaged in a looting spree across society.

During the last fortnight, hundreds of statements by the PWRFC and WSWS articles have been distributed at delivery offices in the pilot scheme, including Stockton-on-Tees, Coventry North, Nottingham North, and North Finchley. Campaigns have also gone ahead at offices not included in the pilots including Manchester, Bootle, Leicester Meridian, Bradford North and Keighley.

The overriding sentiment is that the CWU stands on the side of management, not postal workers. WSWS reporters have encountered widespread support for a rank-and-file fightback to oppose Royal Mail’s corporate looting and gutting of the mail service.

[thefox]

Sounds like it's gonna be a right old slog

[tramssirhc]

Sounds like it's gonna be a right old slog

Unless the very basics are right then of course it will be.

[BenacreNick]

So already the pilot scheme has fallen on its knees in the 1st week
Presumably lessons will be learned here.

[clashcityrocker]

So already the pilot scheme has fallen on its knees in the 1st week
Presumably lessons will be learned here.

While from another thread:

Whilst it is early days, the initial observation is that all the core mail walks have cleared each day and very high call rates. This higher call rate, some above 90%, is down to the sequencing machine releasing work significantly earlier than before the new duty set.

[postslippete]

The general sentiment was that the CWU is untrustworthy and part of management, with workers treated as fodder and moved around from their duties, “The union rep does the rotas, that tells you something,” added the postie.

If the Union are doing the jobs of management by running the office then why does the business need to employ managers?

Maybe RM needs to go back to "team leaders"

[Acca Dacca]

Surely the time to fairly judge it is once at least 6 weeks have passed and everyone has had their 2 in 5 Saturdays off

[moon71]

The general sentiment was that the CWU is untrustworthy and part of management, with workers treated as fodder and moved around from their duties, “The union rep does the rotas, that tells you something,” added the postie.

Is that a proven fact, or fictional story telling. It's proven everything you read via the PWRFC should be taken with a pinch of salt.

[tramssirhc]

So already the pilot scheme has fallen on its knees in the 1st week
Presumably lessons will be learned here.

While from another thread:

Whilst it is early days, the initial observation is that all the core mail walks have cleared each day and very high call rates. This higher call rate, some above 90%, is down to the sequencing machine releasing work significantly earlier than before the new duty set.

And who said that?

[stars2025]

cwu you go on about fatigue, well how can working longer days reduce fatigue, increase it u mean

[ANDREW CROCOMBE]

Heard rumours of 9+ hour days to get a few extra Saturdays off (4 day week) the other 3 days will be in A&E emergency ward. Thought the uso change would mean less letters on Sat, giving us an earlier finish. If the pilot's fail, what next ?

[Barnacle]

The rank and file donkey jackets with yet another post aimed at getting people to leave the CWU and join them. This would leave workers without representation in the workplace. Then you would only have an online echo chamber. Good luck getting RM to listen to that.

[postslippete]

Is that a proven fact, or fictional story telling. It's proven everything you read via the PWRFC should be taken with a pinch of salt.

As I recall you said that about a postal worker who was unfairly dismissed for the intentional delay of mail which they then proved by interviewing Des Beach outside his delivery office.

But what does the presence of the PWRFC actually change? We are all aware of the CWU bureaucracy that exists to look after their own interests first rather than its own members but when was the last time an organised workers rank and file movement in the UK stood up and changed things?

[tramssirhc]

The rank and file donkey jackets with yet another post aimed at getting people to leave the CWU and join them. This would leave workers without representation in the workplace. Then you would only have an online echo chamber. Good luck getting RM to listen to that.

The WSWS/SEP and PWRFC are not advocating for workers to leave the CWU. They are campaigning for workers to fightback and demand that the CWU defends them. As far as I'm concerned the CWU is the problem but I don't read the WSWS/SEP or PWRFC calling for mass resignation from that tinpot 'union'.

[tramssirhc]

Is that a proven fact, or fictional story telling. It's proven everything you read via the PWRFC should be taken with a pinch of salt.

As I recall you said that about a postal worker who was unfairly dismissed for the intentional delay of mail which they then proved by interviewing Des Beach outside his delivery office.

But what does the presence of the PWRFC actually change? We are all aware of the CWU bureaucracy that exists to look after their own interests first rather than its own members but when was the last time an organised workers rank and file movement in the UK stood up and changed things?

No one's going to do it for you and the CWU certainly won't. When was the last time the CWU stood up and changed things? The clowns in charge of the CWU at every level have all been there for decades. They are responsible for this mess. Organise yourselves, tell your rep it has to be different. Boot out the careerists.