LTB 547/17 - Royal Mail Group dispute : High Court judgment and National Briefing : & Video

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 12 Oct 2017, 17:46

LTB 547/17 - Royal Mail Group dispute – High Court judgment and National Briefing
No: 547/17

12th October 2017

TO: ALL POSTAL BRANCHES

Dear Colleague

Royal Mail Group dispute – High Court judgment and National Briefing

The purpose of this LTB is to provide an update on developments in the Royal Mail dispute, after the CWU and Royal Mail were in the High Court earlier today. We can advise branches, representatives and members that Royal Mail was successful in its application for an interim injunction, which the union strongly opposed in court.

The interim injunction instructs the union to withdraw the notice of planned strike action next week and to enter into further external mediation, which would need to conclude before the union can call any further action. Following a decision of the union’s Postal Executive we will be complying with the terms of the interim injunction and a letter has been sent to Royal Mail confirming this and withdrawing the notice for strike action on 19th – 21st October.

Accordingly all branches must, with immediate effect, deploy all means at their disposal including on CWU noticeboards, email, text messages, social media e.g. branch, Facebook and twitter accounts, to inform all members that the industrial action called for the 19th, 20th and 21st October 2017 inclusive is cancelled.

In defending the case in court, while we firmly believe Royal Mail to be abusing the terms of our agreement, it has become clear that the legal test for obtaining an injunction turns upon which party is likely to suffer the greatest financial damage in the event that it is either granted or denied.

The CWU is extremely disappointed at the ruling and we have no doubt our members and representatives will feel the same way. Following 18 months of negotiations, including external mediation, the company’s actions are nothing more than a desperate delaying tactic from a board who are increasingly out of touch with the views of its workforce.

It is now crucial that all our representatives and members see today’s ruling in the context of the wider dispute. Legal proceedings and Royal Mail’s court room politics will not solve the company’s problems. The union has nothing to fear from mediation and unless there is significant movement from the company on a range of issues and a satisfactory agreement is concluded, the union will be calling further strike action once the mediation process has been completed. Furthermore, we will not allow Royal Mail to string out the process beyond the required period.

In light of these developments the union is calling a national briefing on Thursday 19th October next week at the TUC where we will provide a full update on the legal proceedings and set out our next steps. Branches are asked to make attendance at this a priority.

We recognise that today’s ruling will be viewed as a setback. However, we believe that once the dust has settled our members’ attitude towards the employer will harden. Furthermore, the result makes us more determined than ever to hold the company to account and deliver an excellent agreement for CWU members that achieves our objectives. In this regard we know our members will continue to support the union in whatever steps we need to take.

Any enquiries regarding the legal proceedings should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org

Any queries in relation to next week’s national briefing and the wider dispute should be addressed to the Deputy General Secretary (Postal) – tpullinger@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward – General Secretary

Tony Kearns – Senior Deputy General Secretary

Terry Pullinger – Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Post

maisymoo04 · Post by **maisymoo04** » 12 Oct 2017, 17:52

f@@@@ awful so were letting them get xmas out of it were it will hurt them more joke union thought you said royal mail had been using this in the last 18 months

claystones · Post by **claystones** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:03

True Blue when does the mediation end

Post by **cloherty1976** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:06

Why does the union always make announcements when brexit is being debated.
Surely they will get very little press coverage with national media?

Post by **sixfoottwo** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:10

When are we on strike now then after all is said and done? After Chrimbo or before?

terry2972 · Post by **terry2972** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:14

I personally think that the ordinary working person is being well and truly screwed at the moment it would appear that we can’t withhold our labour is this a form of modern slavery???

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:16

terry2972 wrote:I personally think that the ordinary working person is being well and truly screwed at the moment it would appear that we can’t withhold our labour is this a form of modern slavery???

Trade Union Act of 2016 is draconian - the Labour Party will rescind it should they get in Govt.
Why a working man and woman would vote for anyone else is beyond me TBH

loyalsnail · Post by **loyalsnail** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:27

I wonder how many millions of pounds the CWU will spend on stationery in their 2017 report. They certainly like to be seen and heard, which I guess is important when you have to legitimise £28m of Union subs...

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:32

You've lost me there.

loyalsnail · Post by **loyalsnail** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:38

jetblack wrote:You've lost me there.

2016 Annual Report.

£28m paid in from members
£3.4m spent on Stationery, Printing, Postage & Telephone
£222k on Representation of members (tribunals)
£120k on Gen Sec Salary

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:43

It's your point we're playing treasure hunt with, is there a map?

loyalsnail · Post by **loyalsnail** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:43

I am of course being a little mischievous as I'm sure the CWU do a great job in terms of prevention but just like a good war is great for a nation (as long as your doing the invading) a good national dispute is mana from heaven for a Union.

In the absence of a dispute you need to make a lot of noise to justify a Union on a national level. That's means a lot of expense on Stationery and the like.

Post by **General Mannerheim** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:44

£222k on Representation of members (tribunals)

What a fookin joke.

taxi4leighton · Post by **taxi4leighton** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:46

okay lets relax and stay focussed
whens the earliest date we can strike?.
lets start this mediation asap
so we can come out
and lets make it for more than 2 days

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 12 Oct 2017, 18:52

Are you not supposed to enter the mediation in good faith?
I'm not sure the "let's get this over with so we can still walk out" attitude is what is needed.

There are very good reasons why we have never been on strike at xmas in living memory.

ROYALMAILCHAT