SOUTH WEST WALES BRANCH

Mandelson Defies Democracy

This week Peter Mandelson defied democracy and held the Second Reading of the Bill to privatise the Royal Mail in the un-elected House of Lords. He'll really try any trick in the book to avoid the democratic process and stop the people having their say about the Royal Mail.

Peter seems pretty sure about the Royal Mail's future - but I wanted to share with you what his plans will mean unless we act together now.

TNT - the frontrunner to take a stake in the Royal Mail - is currently threatening to sack 10,000 workers in the Netherlands unless they take a 5% pay cut. It's not so much a negotiation as it is pure blackmail to drive down wages and push up profit.

And it's not like it's helped the paying public either - in fact, TNT charge more for a worse service.

Unless we make a stand now, this will be the future of our Royal Mail.

But I'm not willing to stand on the sidelines as this happens. I just sent TNT an email to tell them to leave our post alone. We want fair pay for Royal Mail staff and fair prices for the public. TNT should keep their hands off our Mail. Email them now and tell them the same -

http://post.cwu.org/tnt

We've drafted an email for you - but feel free to edit it. TNT are showing their true colours - attacking their own low-paid workers.

Peter Mandelson and Pat McFadden have said they both "very much welcomed" TNT's interest in our Royal Mail. And now we know what this entails - job cuts or pay cuts for the staff and higher prices for the public. 

Tell TNT to keep their hands off our post. Email them now and then send them the message that our post isn't for sale -

http://post.cwu.org/tnt

Thanks for all that you're doing.

Mandelson starts to spin

Peter Mandelson has suggested that there is no alternative to his part-privatisation plan for Royal Mail. His spin rests on a report by a Government boffin.

The report told Mandelson what he wanted to hear. But the evidence didn't back up its conclusions. It didn't compare like with like. The foreign companies the report cited make their profit by providing a poorer service, lower wages and charging higher prices.

This isn't what we want for our Royal Mail. We don't have the Government's army of spin doctors - but we do have you. I know that you've already helped on this campaign. But I'd like you to email your MP so that we can send the Government a message that we want to keep the post public. It's really easy to do and should only take you a couple of minutes.

http://post.cwu.org/stopthesale

The campaign group Compass have published a damning expose of the Government's own report. They have shown that the claims used to support the privatisation plan are flawed.

Of course, the Royal Mail does need reform. But it needs to be modernised, not privatised.

We can stop that happening by working together - please write to your MP now.

http://post.cwu.org/stopthesale

Let's not forget that this Labour Government promised to keep the post public in their own election manifesto.

Hundreds of people have already written to their MPs demanding that they oppose the Goverment's plans. Please join them - and make sure that we keep the Royal Mail as the public service we need and deserve.

http://post.cwu.org/stopthesale

Copyright © CWU South West Wales Branch 2008