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Growing local industrial action and the pressure of the national ballot has motivated Royal Mail to engage in fresh negotiations. Those talks are complex and reflect the sheer scale of change you are all facing. Negotiations cover your jobs, pay and conditions and the future of Mail Centres, Delivery and the Network.

We are determined to end local conflict and achieve a better working environment for everybody; this means work standards must be agreed, fair and transparent.

It is essential that we secure a national agreement prior to the roll out of automation. This is planned for the end of this year – and the impact will be greater than any change to date.

We have made some progress – but only a Yes vote will enable an agreement.

The union is willing to explore the option of third party mediation if that will help find a resolution. We will renew our offer for a period of calm with a ‘no strike guarantee’ – but Royal Mail must step back from imposed change and stop the abuse of national agreements.

The company must relieve the pressure on frontline employees, whilst we conclude negotiations on a national agreement.

Pensions

The latest Pension Scheme valuation is imminent. When this is made public we believe it is likely to show the deficit has grown somewhere between £10 and £20 billion. This can only be resolved through Government intervention.

Following our successful ‘Keep the Post Public’ Campaign the union is determined to secure your pensions, remove the financial burden of the deficit from the company and bring an end to unfair competition. We will tackle these issues head on through an emergency debate at this year’s Labour Party Conference.

Rather than work with the union and jointly re-engage the Government – Royal Mail plan to use the increased deficit as a further reason to attack your terms and conditions, impose more change and introduce more damaging service cuts.

The next few weeks are crucial. Only a Yes vote will keep the pressure on Government.

WE CANNOT LEAVE ROYAL MAIL TO THEIR OWN DEVICES.

VOTE YES AND KEEP THE PRESSURE ON FOR A NATIONAL AGREEMENT.

Royal Mail Dispute – Update on Negotiations

Negotiations continued last week and the Union also received a written response from Royal Mail to the formal offer we made to resolve all aspects of the dispute.

As a result it is clear, both in writing and negotiations, that Royal Mail now accept that a solution means local change including offices where executive action has taken place, must now be progressed by agreement. Both parties are now trying to agree clear ground rules that would ensure local change is fair and deployed in line with all existing national agreements and the Industrial Relations Framework.

The company has also confirmed that the objective of Phase 4 talks must be to reach further national agreements that will shape and take forward modernisation. Royal Mail has accepted this must also cover pay and benefits to employees. Whist some progress has been made it is essential that Branches and representatives convey the following messages to all CWU members:-

Only a ‘yes’ vote will maintain the pressure on Royal Mail and secure a national agreement with a shared vision of modernisation that is in the interests of the workforce, our customers and the company.
The Union continues to work hard on behalf of the membership and is determined to secure an acceptable agreement through negotiation.

Both parties have agreed to continue negotiations this week and further developments will be reported in due course.

National Industrial Dispute Over Royal Mail’s Failure To Reach A National Agreement Covering Protection Of Jobs, Pay, Terms And Conditions And The Cessation Of Managerial Executive Action

An Industrial Action Ballot Notice was served on Royal Mail today, 10 September 2009, regarding the above dispute.

The timetable for the Ballot will be as follows:-

Ballot Opens 17 September 2009

Ballot Closes 8 October 2009

CWU Fresh Offer

· All planned managerial executive action and local strike action should be immediately suspended.

· In offices where executive action has already taken place, fresh negotiations should commence immediately to reach acceptable agreements. Our regional / divisional and area teams should support the local parties in resolving their differences.

These negotiations should review the changes Royal Mail has made and ensure new local agreements are reached in accordance with ground rules agreed by the national parties and in line with all existing national agreements.

· There would be a process of parallel talks which would allow both parties to re-engage initially with area level teams overseen by our regional / divisional parties. Meetings at area level could then take pragmatic and informed decisions on the best way to proceed and facilitate positive local outcomes. This would also avoid immediate disagreements over what stage our respective local parties have reached in the IR Framework.

· To assist local solutions, parameters should be set by the national parties which state unequivocally that maintaining earnings and innovative attendance patterns must be part of local agreements. These are key principals within existing national agreements including the 2007 Pay and Modernisation deal.

· Voluntary redundancy must only be offered in line with the MTSF agreement. This should be spelt out by sequencing the proper process for voluntary redundancy so that there can be no further misunderstandings.

· The level of savings targeted for local revisions must also be negotiable. This should take account of a joint assessment of workload, the impact of any volume loss, safe working practices and ultimately what people can cope with. The subject of what constitutes a fair day’s workload is proper for national phase 4 talks. Local parties should be encouraged to take pragmatic decisions on what can be achieved in the short term prior to the introduction of new automation. In the meantime, national negotiation should resolve the substantive workload issues in a way which everybody accepts is fair and objective.

· In order to facilitate a fairer approach to local change, agreement should be reached on a new mechanism to incentivise local change.

· Guidelines should be agreed by the national parties that would assist the local parties on what is relevant to local discussions and what is out of bounds for local parties because it is part of phase 4 national negotiations.

· Both parties should clear diaries and commit to concluding phase 4 by reaching further national agreements no later than the end of September ’09. Key issues should be prioritised and we should accept that a successful outcome requires the legitimate concerns of both parties to be resolved simultaneously.

Conclusion

It is clear that the pressure of local industrial action is now having an impact on Royal Mail both in their approach to negotiations and in the substantial build up of work as we come out of the summer period and enter what is traditionally a higher traffic period.

However, we must also acknowledge that key to making genuine progress is that Royal Mail must abandon managerial executive action and accept that change by diktat has no place in a modern industry. This issue is holding back genuine progress and as every week goes by further executive action, including the imposition of Network ’09 duty arrangements, makes finding a solution more complicated.

It is important that branches convey to our members the initiatives the union are taking to resolve the dispute and that our latest offer represents an entirely reasonable position.

In the meantime we must maintain the pressure on the company by doing everything possible to secure a “yes” vote in our forthcoming national industrial action ballot.

Further meetings are planned on the 9^th & 10^th September and we will advise you of developments in due course.

FINAL KEY MESSAGES

In the next week or so we must secure a YES vote in the national industrial action ballot.

A further letter and a DVD has been sent to all members’ home addresses.

Below are the reasons why we are asking our members to vote YES – and serious consequences of what a No vote will mean.

A YES VOTE IS A VOTE FOR FAIRNESS

• Only a YES vote will maintain the pressure on Royal Mail and secure a national agreement with a shared vision of modernisation in the interests of the workforce and our customers – not just the company.

• Only a YES vote will secure a new Job Security Agreement that reflects the sheer scale of change we are all facing. Sustainable jobs, an agreed full-time/part-time resourcing mix, no compulsory redundancies and genuine choices for our members over their future.

• Only a YES vote will ensure our members are rewarded for change. Higher pay, a shorter working week, better attendance patterns, quality time away from work, including weekends.

• Only a YES vote will deliver a better and fairer local working environment. The pace of change can only be dictated by what people can cope with and workload must be based on agreed standards – not unachievable budgets.

• Only a YES vote will keep the pressure on Government to resolve the pensions problem and end unfair competition.

• Only a YES vote will stop Royal Mail imposing change by diktat and restore the principle that underpinned the 2007 deal – “that we would work together and introduce change by agreement”.

A NO VOTE WILL MEAN:

• Royal Mail will do whatever it wants – the pressure on CWU members will become unbearable – there will be no union to turn to.

• A No vote will give the company the green light to turn Royal Mail into a part-time industry and this will lead to compulsory redundancies.

• A No vote will give Royal Mail the green light to intensify their attacks on our members’ pensions, pay, earnings and conditions.

• A No vote will give Royal Mail the green light to introduce change on their terms and their terms alone.

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LEAVE ROYAL MAIL TO ITS OWN DEVICES.

POSTAL WORKERS DESERVE A FAIRER FUTURE

VOTE YES

STATEMENT TO ALL CWU MEMBERS ON BEHALF OF THE POSTAL EXECUTIVE

The issues involved in this ballot are fundamental to your future and the future of the company. Everybody is affected.

We are committed to building a modern and successful Royal Mail. This requires properly negotiated national agreements – not management diktat.

All we want is for you to be treated fairly. We need a shared vision of modernisation that is in your interests and the interests of the public and business communities – not just the company.

In recent months we have tried every conceivable angle to avoid the current situation.

In January we wrote to the Chief Executive following the criticisms contained in the Hooper Report and offered a fresh start on industrial relations – this was rejected by the company.

We have offered several no strike guarantees if Royal Mail would negotiate change and step back from arbitrary job cuts – all these offers were declined.

We want agreed work standards. We have offered independent measurement of workloads to ensure a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay – this has been rejected by the company.

Given the increasing and unfair pressure our members are being placed under we have called for an independent enquiry into bullying and harassment of postal workers – this has been rejected by the company.

These are the actions of an unreasonable employer. We cannot afford to leave Royal Mail to its own devices – services and jobs will be destroyed forever.

The union remains determined to secure a settlement through negotiation. The current industrial action and the threat of a national ballot has finally brought Royal Mail to the negotiating table.

We continue to work hard for an agreement and we are making progress. Only a YES vote in this national ballot will maintain the pressure and secure a fair and just settlement.

It is a fundamental right for you and your union to have a say over the future of this industry and your jobs – vote YES for a fairer future.

www.cwu.org

Published by the Communication Workers Union 2009

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