THE CWU trade union representing postal workers says Royal Mail’s chief executive Simon Thompson is to blame for a round of strikes in the run-up to Christmas and is in fact actively provoking them.
Andy Furey, the national officer at the Communications Workers Union, yesterday insisted workers did want a settlement and do not want to go out on strike.
Asked if postal workers have taken leave of their senses, Furey told GB News: ‘I think that question should be directed at Royal Mail’s Simon Thompson, the CEO.
‘The responsibility for this dispute lies firmly and squarely at his door. He knows his actions have provoked our members.’
He added: ‘Now in terms of the money you claim they’re losing per day, the reality is they declared a profit of £758 million back in May. And they paid shareholder dividends and buybacks of shares to the tune of £567 million this year alone.
‘They can afford to provide our members with a much better deal. And to put this into context, they’re only offering a 1.5% pay rise from the first of April next year. That’s simply not good enough.
‘The reality is the responsibility for this dispute lies with Simon Thompson the CEO and he needs to come to the bargaining table to thrash out a deal.
‘The CWU have confirmed that they have been informed by Royal Mail Group CEO Simon Thompson that negotiations to find a settlement to the long running dispute on pay and change will end on Monday.’
The bosses may well be about to impose a government sponsored lock-out!
A CWU spokesman commented: ‘Millions of customers and thousands of businesses are relying on the postal service. 120,000 postal workers are desperate to protect their terms and conditions. The next strikes are on Thursday – for the company to walk away from talks three days before that is reckless.’
Meanwhile, the RCN has responded to Tory health secretary Steve Barclay’s comments on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen, said: ‘The health secretary’s lack of intention and inability to see the urgency of this situation will trouble every nurse.
‘Just an hour after we again urged him to come to the negotiating table to have detailed, formal discussions on pay and patient safety, he showed no signs of doing so.
‘He has finally admitted what we’ve been saying about years of neglect, underinvestment and, as a result, underperformance, but that is not enough.
‘This is a key week for health and care. We need ministers to be bold and adopt a radical new position with serious investment in nursing, including fair pay.
‘If governments don’t follow Nicola Sturgeon’s lead in Scotland, we will announce strike dates in December for the rest of the UK.’
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is calling for a 17.3% pay rise to keep up with the rising cost of living but no UK nation has offered close to that.
Health secretary Barclay told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge the demand was ‘unreasonable’ and three times more than those outside the public sector were receiving.
The RCN commented that Barclay ‘showed no signs’ of intending to come to the negotiating table for ‘detailed, formal discussions’.
The Tory government and the postal bosses have decided not to give an inch to the postal workers or the nurses. They are refusing to talk and are willing to sit out any industrial action to let millions of workers take the strain as they engage in busting unions.
However, this is a vital matter for the working class. It will not look the other way like the TUC!
Tory government-sponsored attacks on the nurses and the postal workers must be met with mass actions by millions of workers, leading to a general strike.
Workers must tell the TUC that they must call the general strike or else they will be removed from the leadership and replaced by leaders who are willing to take on and beat the Tories.
The Tories must be removed and replaced by a workers government that will bring in a nationalised and planned socialist economy to serve the needs of the working class. There is no other way forward!
