The Communication Workers Union (CWU) took strike action on Friday and Saturday and explained the reasons for doing so.
In a letter to all its members it wrote: ‘Dear Colleague,
The CWU have called all members to take strike action this Friday and Saturday (30th September and 1st October).
Royal Mail’s announce ment last week makes it crystal clear that they want to go further in attacking your terms and conditions then previously announced.
Royal Mail served notice that they want to cease a further 20 National Agreements. This is in addition to their previous proposals.
THIS IS WHAT ROYAL MAIL IS INTENDING TO IMPOSE
1. IMPOSE Sunday working for all staff by national/ Area rotation at Monday-Saturday pay rates.
2. IMPOSE starting times for Inward Mail Centre, Professional Drivers and Delivery staff later by up to to 3 hours a day.
3. All large parcels will be delivered in the afternoon and evening from circa 346 Delivery Offices. This means the 940 Delivery offices will lose this workload. This will mean the loss of jobs and longer delivery spans.
4. IMPOSE annualised hours. This will mean that everyone will be instructed to complete their duty/shift regardless of the time it takes and where you work.
5. Royal Mail will cease many of our allowances. This will mean a reduction of pay for many. In addition, for those who receive the RRIS payment, the removal of this payment will see 30 thousand of us being up to £35 worse of per week.
6. Royal Mail will stop our sick pay and replace it with statutory sick pay after the first absence in any year. Please note that Statutory sick pay is £98 per week.
7. Royal Mail want to recruit new recruits on worse terms and conditions.
LAST WEEK ROYAL MAIL NOTIFIED THE UNION OF THE FOLLOWING:
a. They are intending to serve notice on legal protections. This means that Royal Mail is intending to break up the company. Effectively, to franchise parts of the company, outsource workload and to recruit new entrants on worse terms and conditions.
b. To end all future trials. This will mean that Royal Mail will have the right to impose any change without first seeing how it works or any changes will be impacted.
c. Royal Mail now want to be able to use all data for any use – including resourcing and for any conduct purposes. This includes PDA OA if staff finish before time and Trimable if someone is speeding.
d. Royal Mail want to now impose individual performance standards. This will mean that individuals can’t or are unable to reach these imposed standards they want to ‘manage’ (impose) those people out of business.
e. When people are ill or injured, they want to impose a new procedure to make it easier for managers to dismiss people.
f. They want to change the role of the CWU to make it easier for Royal Mail to impose change. This means Royal Mail will no longer negotiate with the union.
g. Royal Mail want to remove the role of the Area and Divisional Reps to make it easier for them to impose changes.
h. Royal Mail have served notice on the way the CWU collects your membership contributions. This is a direct attack on the union and the membership levels and make the union weaker and less able to protect your terms and conditions.
ROYAL MAIL HAS DECLARED WAR ON POSTAL WORKERS
It is essential that all members show that we are up for the fight by attending your picket lines.
There needs to be a show of strength by CWU members. If we are serious about winning this dispute then strike days must become days of action.
SHOW THAT WE ARE IN TOTAL OPPOSITION TO ROYAL MAIL’S PLANS AND WE WILL FIGHT THEM ALL THE WAY.’
CWU picket lines received massive support from local communities and passing motorists all over the country during the two days of action on Friday and Saturday.
There was a lively picket line at Whitechapel sorting office on Saturday, where Hannah Carroll, women’s officer for East London explained the massive management attacks: ‘They want to make us work every one in four Sundays for a flat rate.
‘They also want to take away all inner and outer London weighting allowances and bring in annualised hours.
‘On Thursday, talks between the union and the CEO Simon Thompson made no progress. Royal Mail made millions of profits last year. There are greedy people at the top. If we want a decent pay rise we have got to sacrifice our terms and conditions (T’s and C’s).
‘They are still getting bonuses and dividends. But they can’t pay more to the people that actually bring it in for them.
‘This Tory government is poisonous. We definitely need to get it out. Dave Ward told Keir Starmer, that he needs to support working people.’
East London CWU branch secretary, Vinnie Mcallef, said: ‘They’re trying to link any increase in pay to attack our terms and conditions. We’re never going to accept.
‘They reward shareholders with millions of pounds. They want this business run into the ground and break up the company.
‘We suspect there have been secret talks with private equity firms. We want them to confirm this and the government to investigate this. Is this about letting a private equity firm have more shares in the company, leading to a takeover bid?
‘Our members worked hard for the public throughout the pandemic. They need to be rewarded and the T’s and C’s that we fought for, secured.
‘It is important that working class people come together to challenge this gig economy model, and this race to the bottom that employers are using. And we will face that head on in the CWU.
‘While they show our reps no respect at all when sitting down for talks – they issued and served notice on our national agreements – which is totally unacceptable. They are introducing executive action by imposition – just as they imposed a 2% pay rise. We’re out today in relation to our T’s and C’s.
‘The way that P&O workers were treated with no action, says it all about this government. People of this country have had enough and can see what this government is doing. Who would have thought, in this day and age, that postal workers and others would be reliant on food banks?’
On the Jubilee Mail Centre picket line in Hounslow, West London, CWU member Harks Johal said: ‘I’m up for a general strike, it’s what we need to do.
‘The rich are getting richer and the middle class and working class are getting shafted.
‘We’re being penalised to be honest and we’re the ones who produce all the wealth. The Tories have got to go and it’s got to be now.’
Joy Newell, CWU Dep Rep Weekends & Women’s Officer, said: ‘The turnout has been brilliant, representing the very strong feeling now they are taking away our terms and conditions – we’ve got no choice but to fight.
‘We cannot sell the Ts and Cs, they were won by previous generations and have to be passed on to future generations.
‘I think the TUC should call a general strike. We need the Tories out, otherwise the whole country is going to be in trouble.’
CWU member Riswan Maredia said: ‘Management’s plan is to break up the universal service. They want to franchise the delivery offices, ie the postmen and women and the distribution network, which is all the vans and lorries, and completely break up Royal Mail into small parts.
‘It’s unacceptable for us as postal workers and for the public who rely on the service.
‘In order to pursue their plans they want to break the union. The ideal answer to this is to bring the government to a standstill, the whole country, by all the unions coming out together.
‘A general strike has got to be organised and the TUC has got to call it now.’
Lakshmi Mulamalla, CWU Dep Rep Weekends, said: ‘They are taking all benefits away, weekends especially.
‘They are taking all our weekend premium and Sundays and making it all flat rate. They are reducing our sick pay – we used to get up to six months, they are bringing it down to three days.
‘Deliveries currently start at 6am, but from this month they are changing it to 8am-4pm, which messes up the workers and the service.’
On the picket line at Stoke Newington Delivery Office in London, N16, Maciej Kupski CWU member said: ‘We need to stand up and fight for our rights because the management are trying to convert us into Uber drivers, where you have no pension schemes, sickness pay, no leave and no rights at all.
‘We want to keep all our existing conditions with decent pay. The cost of living is going up to the sky and instead of increasing pay, they’re taking it away.
‘They should sit down and start talking to us, specially when you hear that management are getting big rewards themselves while workers are still struggling.’