Stop the Uberisation of Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2022/09/stop-t ... oyal-mail/

By Dave Ward

Today’s move by Royal Mail to rip up agreements with the CWU is the biggest attack on workers in a generation. If it isn’t fought, we could see the derecognition of a strong union and the fragmentation of our postal service.

This morning, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) leadership met with Royal Mail Group’s senior management. We hoped this meeting would begin resolving the ongoing industrial strife that has seen hundreds of thousands of employees take strike action against degrading real-terms pay cuts and the deterioration of workplace conditions.

However, they had other ideas. While we waited, managers began being briefed across the country about new plans for the ‘modernisation’ of the company. One of the company’s CEOs, Simon Thompson, handed us two letters.

The first was over Royal Mail serving legal notice that it was withdrawing from existing legal agreements with the union. It talks about a ‘high performance culture’, about removing any agreements negotiated in the past, new attendance procedures, and establishing a completely new understanding of how fast and how hard our members are expected to work.

The letter also discussed a new industrial relationship with the CWU, showing a changing framework of relationship where the role shifts from that of negotiation with workers’ representatives to that of ‘consultation’.

In short, this is probably the biggest attack on workers and their shopfloor representatives that this union has ever seen.

Look at all of those parts. This is about derecognising the CWU to get to workers, so that aggressive changes to an industry with decent jobs and conditions can be made without resistance.

And since you would have to serve notice on legal protections to break up Royal Mail—as well as impose new working conditions without discussion—it is no surprise that this is the intention.

A second letter was regarding going to ACAS to resolve this dispute. These letters were separate, since they presumably don’t want to attend ACAS meetings to discuss the agenda they want to happen, despite the fact that they are impacting on the business massively.

Let me be clear—this is not a sincere offer to resolve the situation. This is not about resolving the dispute, it is about buying time. These people have no interest in reaching agreement with the union. You can’t trust people like Simon Thompson—this is why you have a union, so that people like him can’t exploit you at every opportunity.

That’s why they want unions gone. But they won’t shift us—up and down this country, postal workers have seen reckless CEOs come and go. They are the industry, not the cowboys trying to skim the cream off the top.

Our members care about this company, this industry, and the communities they serve. They won’t be cowed by the kind of people who are trying to ruin their working lives, or the type of business model they represent. We will not let Royal Mail turn into a casualised, Uberfied system.

This is why our dispute will be massively escalating. Already, the CEOs of Royal Mail are in a difficult place—they can’t even bribe solid numbers of managers to cross picket lines, and significant numbers of agency workers—to their immense credit—aren’t turning up for shifts on strike days.

Meanwhile, our 115,000 members are backed by a country that is sick to the back teeth of corporate failure getting rewarded, that is sick of being forced to work harder and harder for less and less, and that is sick of the moral bankruptcy of British business leaders.

No matter how bitter it gets, postal workers will keep on fighting: if they haven’t realised already, Royal Mail will soon realise they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.

[CRIBMAD]

Well said Dave!

Lets get moving on this escalation ASAP , i would rather see this great company close and be unemployed than let these t***s win !

STAND TOGETHER ! this is make or break time.

[CRIBMAD]

PS share price has now dropped below £2

Poor old shareholders

[49erman]

Well said Dave!

Lets get moving on this escalation ASAP , i would rather see this great company close and be unemployed than let these t***s win !

STAND TOGETHER ! this is make or break time.

[aiden01]

PS share price has now dropped below £2

Poor old shareholders

All the markets are down.

[POSTPERSON50]

PS share price has now dropped below £2

Poor old shareholders

Director dealings:

18/11/2021 - Simon Thompson - 20,892 @ 472.10p - £98,631.13 - Buy

[yellowbelly]

PS share price has now dropped below £2

Poor old shareholders

Director dealings:

18/11/2021 - Simon Thompson - 20,892 @ 472.10p - £98,631.13 - Buy

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind. That's about 44k or more he's down, but people like him will have an accountant/tax expert
that'll find some way of writing off the loss against profit on something else. But did he actually pay for these
shares from his hard earned or were they bonus shares given for free for him 'going the extra mile' during
the pandemic.

[thefox]

Well said Dave!

Lets get moving on this escalation ASAP , i would rather see this great company close and be unemployed than let these t***s win !

STAND TOGETHER ! this is make or break time.

[daveyeff]

The thing is though...if this den of c***s dont want to negotiate, don't really want to go to ACAS, its beginning to look like they actually want the whole business to fail fantastically, presumably to bring about the sale and ulimate demise of our jobs and union as we know it. Ive always ALWAYS been militant and i back our union and my colleagues 100%. But i have to say there are bad omens beginning to surface in this dispute that ive never seen in my 30 yrs with the company. One of the executive says he's never known it be this toxic ever. I hope im wrong but its beginning to seem like they are wanting it all to fail. If this is allowed to happen how can our union save us then?

[clashcityrocker]

If this is allowed to happen how can our union save us then?

Well Dave wrote a letter to the Business Secretary.
Then there is always a petition. The English love a good petition.

[jessicarabbit]

I find a strongly worded (but polite) email often has the desired effect.

[freespeech]

The problem is the Agenda for Growth agreement that contains all the legal protections also contained a clause that the CWU signed up to that allows RM to pull out in the case of national IA. Ironically, RM are actually sticking to the agreement.

[guardianangel]

Well said Dave!

Lets get moving on this escalation ASAP , i would rather see this great company close and be unemployed than let these t***s win !

STAND TOGETHER ! this is make or break time.

Ditto i'd rather see royal mail collapse than work for a pittance in one of the most physical jobs i have ever done and conditions that take us back to victorian times,its our time lets give it to them.

[49erman]

Well said Dave!

Lets get moving on this escalation ASAP , i would rather see this great company close and be unemployed than let these t***s win !

STAND TOGETHER ! this is make or break time.

Ditto i'd rather see royal mail collapse than work for a pittance in one of the most physical jobs i have ever done and conditions that take us back to victorian times,its our time lets give it to them.

[Woody Guthrie]

The problem is the Agenda for Growth agreement that contains all the legal protections also contained a clause that the CWU signed up to that allows RM to pull out in the case of national IA. Ironically, RM are actually sticking to the agreement.

The legal obligations contained within the Agenda for Growth were not worth the paper they were written on.

They contained a clause that allowed Royal Mail to withdraw from them if adherering to them became financially unsustainable.

The whole argument that they're only able to withdraw from these obligations because we've taken IA is completely bogus.

What the union is guilty of and in particular one of our regular posters is making more of these obligations in the first place than they deserved, did anyone seriously think that the union would take RM to court on such a flimsy guarantee?