Workers prepare to protest

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Published Date: 18 May 2009
Postal workers in Lancashire are to protest against Government plans to part-privatise Royal Mail.
The Keep the Post Public roadshow comes to the county on Friday afternoon.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will be at Market Square, Lancaster, at 2pm to lobby for public support.

And a 20ft-high inflatable postbox will be transported to the square along with a huge postcard and petitions for the public to sign.

Mark Bolton, sub-divisional representative for the CWU, said: "The aim is to raise awareness of what the Government is doing and that it is wrong – and that it will ruin an institution.

"The Government is saying we need this to be able to modernise but, bearing in mind the profits the Royal Mail has just announced, there is enough money to modernise.

"This union wants to modernise the service but unfortunately Royal Mail does not want to talk to us at the moment."

Earlier this week it was announced that Royal Mail had doubled its profits to £321m. It led to unions and pressure groups saying the case for part-privatising the Post Office had been "bust wide open", while the company was forced to scrap pay freezes.

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POSTAL workers held a rally in Southampton demanding the Government abandon its plan to sell a stake in Royal Mail.

About 80 members of the Communication and Workers Union and other supporters marched through the city urging shoppers to back their campaign to “keep the post public”.

They were joined by Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead and Labour’s south east Euro MP Peter Skinner who earlier addressed the rally.

The Government says Royal Mail’s multi-billion pound pension deficit and the falling numbers of letters being delivered shows it needs reform and outside investment.

Unions argue the service can be modernised without privatisation, which would trigger another round of Post Office closures and put up prices.

Mr Whitehead, who is among about 180 Labour MPs opposing the part-privatisation plans, said he believed in a public owned and public run service for the public and that privatisation would be a “terrible deal for the British taxpayer”.

Mr Skinner added: “There is absolutely no need to privatise the Royal Mail and there is nothing in the laws that come from the European Union that says that needs to be the case.”

The campaigners were boosted by news last week that all four Royal Mail businesses reported full-year profit for the first time in 20 years – doubling to £321m.

The rally was organised by left wing campaign group, Compass, which argues Royal Mail should become a membership company like Network Rail, which reinvests profits.

A proposed new law would allow the government to sell up to 49 per cent of the Royal Mail and bail out the pension fund.

Southampton Itchen MP and skills minister John Denham insisted the government plans would “make sure the universal service for the public is protected.”

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LIVERPOOL postal workers used a 20ft-high inflatable post box to deliver their message to Prime Minister Gordon Brown opposing any privatisation of Royal Mail today.



Members of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) gathered in the city's Paradise Street to lobby public support for their campaign.

They oppose any privatisation of the mail network, claiming it would threaten services, push up costs for customers and lead to job losses and more Post Office closures.

The union is currently fighting Royal Mail plans to close Liverpool's Copperas Hill sorting centre and switch the work to another site in Warrington next year.

Union chiefs say it could cost up to 600 Liverpool sorting jobs.

CWU Liverpool branch secretary Mark Walsh said: "Postal workers are at the heart of communities the length and breadth of the country, ensuring we all receive our mail six days a week.

"The service is not profitable in rural locations, or for the majority of social mail such as cards and letters, but this is a public service and public services are worth more than balance sheets."

He added: "We have a first class postal service in the UK with cheaper costs than most in Europe.

"Privatisation will be a financial and political disaster and with the support of the Merseyside public we can overturn the decision and keep the post public."

[andy2007]

Keep the Post Public - Liverpool.jpg

I wonder why they didn't use one of the photos with the big Postcards in the Articles. Here's one. I'll post a better one, when my Friend has time to copy the photos from his camera.