Vote No to CWU leaders’ pact with Kretinsky: a blueprint for brutal restructuring

[stage3]

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/ ... -j25.html

The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC) calls for an emphatic No vote in the upcoming ballot from August 6 to 26 on “Rebuilding Royal Mail Parts 1 and 2.”

These agreements are not about rebuilding anything for us or service users. They are about increasing Royal Mail’s profits at our expense, enforcing a ruthless corporate overhaul to gut jobs, slash pay further and undermine working conditions. This is to complete the transformation of Royal Mail into a low-cost parcel logistics firm: the “Amazon of Europe.”

This package has been secretly crafted over months by Communication Workers Union (CWU) General Secretary Dave Ward, Deputy General Secretary Martin Walsh with Royal Mail’s new billionaire boss Daniel Kretinsky, whose EP Group took control in May following a £3.6 billion takeover. The CWU postal executive rubber stamped this without our vote and are telling workers to vote Yes. But we will not accept the dismantling of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and our remaining hard-won rights.


CWO poster calling for a Yes vote in the ballot [Photo: CWU/Facebook]
A corporate blueprint for the gig economy
“USO reform” has nothing to do with improving the mail service. It is about implementing the Optimised Delivery Model (ODM)—a gig-economy regime for 80,000+ delivery staff that:

Abolishes fixed duties with three delivery workers doing the work of four

Extends delivery spans beyond five hours

Increases call rates by 30 percent

This is the corporate vision of “efficiency”—slashing costs and working postal workers while the mail service is collapsed. Ofcom, the government regulator, has already approved the first steps to downgrade the USO from July 28 based on alternate weekday delivery for “non-priority” letters, reduced delivery targets for First Class and delayed speed of delivery.

Walsh has declared that the pay award is “a no strings deal”. The truth is they have embraced the restructuring by Ofcom in their agreements with Kretinsky to gut the USO based on slashing jobs, prioritising parcels and ramped-up workloads.

The insulting pay offer
CWU leaders are boasting about a new three-year pay award.

Year One: 4.2 percent— barely above CPI (3.6 percent) and below RPI (4.4 percent).

Years Two and Three: Tied to CPI or a minimum of 2 percent, whichever is higher, with a vague “reopener clause” if inflation spikes.

This locks in pay stagnation for three years. The last deal imposed a 14 percent real-terms cut. Instead of fighting for higher pay, Ward and Walsh are helping the company impose productivity-linked bonuses. They’ve agreed to trial “incentive schemes” at 12 delivery units and two mail centres starting in September. These introduce more punishing workloads and undermine our collective interests under the cover of “additional earnings” opportunities.


Communication Workers Union Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Martin Walsh, (left) and CWU General Secretary Dave Ward speaking at a CWU Live event [Photo: screenshot of video: CWU/Facebook]
Lies about “decoupling from USO reform”
CWU officials claim that the pay award is decoupled from USO reform. What a fraud! The pilot rollout of the ODM has already taken place at 35 of the 37 targeted offices, co-authored by Martin Walsh with Royal Mail behind our backs. Reports from these sites are damning: collapsing Quality of Service, burnt-out staff, and impossible workloads. Yet the CWU says the results are “mixed.”

Pilots were already tied into the Framework Agreement with EP Group Part 1”—in December, which we had no vote on. Far from being “resolved,” only temporary fixes have been applied as the ODM is readied for national deployment. In January, CWU officials welcomed Ofcom’s endorsement of ODM and “USO reform.” The “Rebuilding Royal Mail” documents affirm a joint commitment on a “sustainable USO” to slash costs by £425 million a year.

A “voluntary” jobs cull
The CWU admits agreeing to “accelerate” the voluntary redundancy (VR) process, with a slight improvement in terms—up to 52 weeks’ pay. This is meant to push out thousands more experienced workers, clearing the way for ODM’s sweatshop model.

Royal Mail estimates 7,000 job losses from USO reform, only 1,000 via VR, with around 6,000 via “natural wastage”—meaning no recruitment to fill existing vacancies. This is based on a mass exodus of “legacy” workers triggered by the sellout agreement in 2023: 18 days of strike action betrayed, workloads intensified, and management bullying rampant. We must unite together against this sweatshop model.

No real change for new entrants or on sick pay
The CWU claims that “equalisation” of terms for new entrants and “improvement” on sick pay will be balloted on separately once an agreement is finalised. There is only an “agreement” for a “first step” to an agreement in September and a “full plan” in December on new entrants. The same fob-off applies to a promised “improvement” on sick pay, no later than September.

Walsh has admitted that equalisation for new entrants will take three years, and company sick pay will only return for the second absence—so rock bottom statutory sick pay of around £23 per day will still apply during third and fourth absences.

Profit sharing equals pension looting
Ward and Walsh are trumpeting the Employee Collective Benefit Trust (ECBT)—a “profit-sharing” scheme with EP Group offering 10 percent of dividends. This is jam-tomorrow, disproven by similar schemes after more than a decade of privatisation as fund managers and equity firms raked in £2 billion.


Profits will be generated by slashing jobs and gutting services. The framework agreement signed with EP Group in December includes a £1 billion pension surplus “split” between the ECBT and Kretinsky—diverting workers’ money into subsidising capital expenditure. This is not wealth sharing. It is wealth appropriation in the interests of the corporate oligarchy.

The Labour government rubber-stamped EP Group’s takeover last December, guaranteeing light-touch regulation to allow profiteering. Kretinsky only needs to meet Royal Mail’s 2023–24 performance when a quarter of First Class letters were not delivered on time as part of a “commitment to the USO”. This will allow EP group to carry out “value extraction”, e.g., asset stripping.


Daniel Křetínský, Dave Ward, Royal Mail [Photo: Top left: EP Holding / Bottom left: WSWS / Right: CC BY 2.0]
This was linked to the insistence by the Starmer government to include the CWU bureaucracy as corporate partners in the new set-up to demobilise opposition while claiming to establish “workers’ representation.”

Ward, recently awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by the Labour government, is completing his union career as Starmer’s henchman—delivering what no Tory government could: the bitter endgame of privatisation, with billionaire investors in sole ownership of Royal Mail.

The way forward
Our committee was formed in opposition to the CWU’s last “negotiators agreement,” dubbed as the “surrender document.” There was mass opposition expressed to the “ground-breaking deal” announced in April 2023, which was bureaucratically suppressed to get the pro-company deal over the line, ushering in a wave of attacks on our jobs and terms and conditions. We cannot afford a repeat. Postal workers should demand a no-confidence vote in Ward, Walsh, and the entire CWU postal executive. The will of the membership must be asserted against the pro-company apparatus.

The PWRFC proposes the following demands:

An inflation-busting, no-strings pay rise
Enough of below-inflation settlements and productivity. We demand a real pay increase that restores what has been stolen through years of wage suppression
Abolish the two-tier workforce—equal pay and conditions for all
No more divide and rule. New entrants must not be condemned to poverty pay, unpaid breaks, and sweatshop conditions.
Defend the Universal Service Obligation
Reject alternate-day delivery, degraded First Class service, and the destruction of the mail service. The USO must be protected as a vital public good—not dismantled for private profit.
Workers’ control of technology to shorten hours and improve safety
Automation and digital tools must serve workers, not billionaire shareholders. Use technology to reduce workloads, improve health and safety, not to destroy jobs
The PWRFC can provide the platform to forge links with other key sections of workers engaged in battles against the Starmer government, such as 400 Birmingham bin workers opposing its strikebreaking operation as they fight to defend jobs and defeat drastic pay cuts. It is also central to linking up with postal and logistics workers internationally also opposing the overhaul of postal services to prioritise profits and ram through privatisation.

[pinstripe]

The PWRFC proposes the following demands:

An inflation-busting, no-strings pay rise
Enough of below-inflation settlements and productivity. We demand a real pay increase that restores what has been stolen through years of wage suppression
Abolish the two-tier workforce—equal pay and conditions for all
No more divide and rule. New entrants must not be condemned to poverty pay, unpaid breaks, and sweatshop conditions.
Defend the Universal Service Obligation
Reject alternate-day delivery, degraded First Class service, and the destruction of the mail service. The USO must be protected as a vital public good—not dismantled for private profit.
Workers’ control of technology to shorten hours and improve safety
Automation and digital tools must serve workers, not billionaire shareholders. Use technology to reduce workloads, improve health and safety, not to destroy jobs
The PWRFC can provide the platform to forge links with other key sections of workers engaged in battles against the Starmer government, such as 400 Birmingham bin workers opposing its strikebreaking operation as they fight to defend jobs and defeat drastic pay cuts. It is also central to linking up with postal and logistics workers internationally also opposing the overhaul of postal services to prioritise profits and ram through privatisation.

They really don’t live in the real world. Their proposals would be wonderful, but, we work for a private company. One which does not care if we go on strike, so how exactly will the PWRFC force RM to accept their “proposals”?

[twoloops]

If you have any long term interest or commitment to this job you would be a fool to vote yes

[BELIAL]

They really don’t live in the real world. Their proposals would be wonderful, but, we work for a private company. One which does not c
are if we go on strike, so how exactly will the PWRFC force RM to accept their “proposals”?

I think you might find that the only thing DK does care about is losing money.

[FilthyBloke]

The changes are inevitable. They have been since we became shareholder driven over a decade ago.

The CWU is not what is once was and Royal Mail doesn’t bow down to demands like it once did.

The wage of the postman will be minimum wage sooner or later. At the end of the day it’s a very low skilled job and if you think you deserve more money then you may want to look elsewhere for employment.

Harsh as it sounds, it’s just the reality of where we are going.

[Valentina@1]

Hate this” low skilled “tag that goes around these days,if it’s that low skilled how comes none of these youngsters can handle job and stay more than few months?

[menditsa]

Hate this” low skilled “tag that goes around these days,if it’s that low skilled how comes none of these youngsters can handle job and stay more than few months?

Because we are not "Influencers"

[Chelseablue]

Low skill ,,,heard this for years. Yet many dont stick this job .Dont put youreself down, RM will do that for you .

[moon71]

Vote No to CWU leaders pact with Kretinsky: a blue print for brutal restructuring.

????

It's already begun. It's happening tomorrow whether I vote no in weeks to come.

Another PWRFC sh!t thread with no substance, realism or positive aspects. This vote no thread is redundant from the beginning. It's already done.

[SpacePhoenix]

Within 5 years not a single one of us will recognise any aspect of the company then compared with now, not in MCs or DOs.

[Londonsburning]

Within 5 years not a single one of us will recognise any aspect of the company then compared with now, not in MCs or DOs.

No s**t Sherlock

[BELIAL]

Vote No to CWU leaders pact with Kretinsky: a blue print for brutal restructuring.

????

It's already begun. It's happening tomorrow whether I vote no in weeks to come.

Another PWRFC sh!t thread with no substance, realism or positive aspects. This vote no thread is redundant from the beginning. It's already done.

Blimey, I never thought one of you bods would come out and openly admit that this electronic vote has been rigged already.
I think someone might be having a quiet word in your ear.

[moon71]

Vote No to CWU leaders pact with Kretinsky: a blue print for brutal restructuring.

????

It's already begun. It's happening tomorrow whether I vote no in weeks to come.

Another PWRFC sh!t thread with no substance, realism or positive aspects. This vote no thread is redundant from the beginning. It's already done.

Blimey, I never thought one of you bods would come out and openly admit that this electronic vote has been rigged already.
I think someone might be having a quiet word in your ear.

The restructuring is happening regardless whether you vote yes/no to the pay deal. Voting no to the pay deal will not cancel out the changes.

That's obvious to all.

[stage3]

There could be no better endorsement of the PWRFC statement than the objections by Moon71, they always prove we are doing something right.

Moon71 comments only confirm the agreements have been hatched behind closed doors between the CWU hierarchy and Kretinsky to deprive workers of any voice and enforce the "changes" - he does not contradict this is brutal restructuring. The ballot is viewed as a rubber stamp for what is being imposed on workers through this rotten alliance.

FilthyBloke makes clear the direction of travel - a minimum wage employer, workers have to accept the contemptuous designation they are just "low skilled" operatives or move on , a de facto form of fire and rehire policy. Thanks for summing up the CWU leaders pact with Kretinsky.

But not every agrees with this bowing before the oligarchy and treatment of workers as worthless. As others have commented Moon71 you are walking PR disaster admitting that which CWU HQ would try to deny with its marketing language about "rebuilding Royal Mail"

As the statement says voting to reject this stich-up is decisive but "Postal workers should demand a no-confidence vote in Ward, Walsh, and the entire CWU postal executive. The will of the membership must be asserted against the pro-company apparatus."

[moon71]

Just a realist. That's all. I call it as I see.

I'm not endorsing the CWU, just deciding what's best for me in my current situation.