National post strike could be off
National postal strikes could be called off after union bosses made a list-ditch offer of a deal.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) wrote to the Royal Mail with proposals that it says would help restore customer confidence and resolve long-running disputes over jobs, pay and work.
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National post strike could be off
If they are not accepted the union will press ahead with strikes. Expected to come at the end of next week, they would further cripple the postal service.
There are currently more than 1.5 million items of undelivered mail in the Bristol region, a mountain of post that has built up after three months of strikes.
Last week more than 75 per cent of the CWU's 121,000 members voted in favour of national industrial action, but yesterday they offered a final chance of a truce.
In a letter to Mark Higson, Royal Mail's managing director, the CWU urged the company to show it is sincere about reaching an agreement and avoiding strike action.
The CWU said it would call off strike action if Royal Mail, among other things, revealed its business plan for the next three years to help provide stability, recommitted to the principle that any changes would be introduced by agreement and agreed that budgets should not drive staffing levels.
Dave Ward, the CWU's deputy general secretary, said: "Postal workers do not want to have to take strike action, but neither are they prepared to put up with continuing attacks from a management which is failing.
"We have offered what we believe is a genuine alternative to reach a lasting agreement.
"This is an opportunity to avoid a national strike, restore customer confidence and resolve the concerns of staff.
"If Royal Mail really is sincere about reaching an agreement we expect them to take up this offer for the interests of all involved in the mail industry."
In a letter to theBristol Evening Post, Mark Ellis, regional operations director for Royal Mail South West, said: "I write to reassure your readers that as a business we have been doing everything possible to avert such disruption.
"We have held more than 70 meetings with the CWU over the last few months, and we continue to call on them to stop strikes and get back around the table for talks."
Dave Wilshire, secretary of the Bristol and District branch of the CWU, said he supported the call for a deal.
He said: "We think that it is a sensible offer.
"It gives Royal Mail a further chance to resolve the dispute and we hope they would look at it as a positive step.
"The ball is in their court, and their response will determine whether strikes go ahead."
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by pete skinner, portishead
Thursday, October 15 2009, 10:55AM
“man on the inside,
you are talking utter rubbish. it is not the union that is speeding up the end of this company it is a management team that is inept and rotten from the top downwards. all that about london posties finishing two hours early every day is rubbish. i saw this with my own eyes when i was up there with friends and post was regularly arriving at 2 or 3 in the afternoons. magagement regulalry bully and intimidate people in to working past their time without paying overtime because they've made duties so big that people are struggling to get them done within their time. why otherwise would the royal mail have rejected the unions call for a independent enquiry in to bullying in royal mail if they had nothing to hide?
as for the vote, if people don't use their right to vote the you have to assume that proportionately they would have to vote the same way as those that did. just for the record though i know a number of people that didn't vote but still came out on strike. because they know that due bungling management incompetence we will be on the dole if we lose this dispute-strike or no strike, the management are to blame for this dispute as they seem determined to take every oportunity to provoke us. they were warned continuously about industrial action from about 18 months ago if they continued to attack our terms and conditions, but they continued to bury their heads in the sand and we were left with little choice. liking it and lumping it was not an option because their business plan would have driven all the business to the competition. we have got royal mail around the negotiating table thanks to the fact that union members have had enough of being put upon by the idiots that run royal mail. they're finally startin to see sense, but how long this will last for god only knows”
by Man on the Inside, In utter despair
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 6:19PM
“Ray, Bristol. Like I said THIS YEAR, you yourself qouted last years figures. Just to remind you the two you mention also turned the company around so all four parts of it made a profit for the first time in twenty years. Face Facts, Joe Public are not prepared to use tax payers money to prop up this company anymore, it needs to stand and compete on its own, The CWU are just speeding up the end. And clearly you support them all on the dole. Well Done.”
by Ray, Bristol
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 1:07PM
“Man on the inside ( I doubt it ) you say "nobody in the bussines has had a pay rise this year"being on the inside, I am surprised that you forgot that your boss,Adam Crozier's total package last year was 1.25 million pounds,and for overseeing the worst service offered to the public for 20 years,last year he recieved a performance bonus of £469,000,his salary rose by 26% to 629,000 pounds,and recieved a pension and benefits payment of £158,000,I am aware these figures sound like a game of monopoly,but when your job is to run Royal mail into the ground,ready for the City fat cats to make a killing,these are the figures you recieve.”
by MB, Bristol
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 12:23PM
“Where's Anne when you need here?”
by Paul, Bristol
Wednesday, October 14 2009, 12:00PM
“Sssshhhhh LD...don't mention the 'A' word!
She'll only appear on here banging on about slander/libel, making up random unlrealted statistics and then finally copy and pasting the whole of CWU website onto this section!”