[Imc-birmingham] feature proposal: Postal workers walk out

Mon Jul 2 09:52:36 PDT 2007

Good article! Can you also add that West Midlands IWW members showed up 
to support the strikers at a few locations round the city? You've got 
to plug yourself whenever you can!
D

>----Original Message----
>From: shiar at riseup.net
>Date: 30/06/2007 1:50 
>To: "Birmingham Imc"<imc-birmingham at lists.indymedia.org>
>Subj: [Imc-birmingham] feature proposal: Postal workers walk out
>
>Hi,
>
>I'd like to propose the following feature for the middle column.
>
>I'll be away over teh weekend. Could someone please publish it when 
the 24
>hours are up?
>
>Cheers,
>
>-- 
>Shiar
>
>-------
>
>Title: Postal workers walk out over planned pay and job cuts
>
>Author: IMC Birmingham
>
>Image: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2007/06/374727.jpg
>
>Abstract:
><p>
>Up to 130,000 postal workers took part in a 24-hour <a
>href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374534.html">strike</a> on 
Friday
>-the first in 11 years- to stop the Royal Mail's cost-cutting plans, 
which
>the Communication Workers Union (CWU) <a
>href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374640.html">says</a> would only 
mean
>cuts in members' pay and pensions, job cuts and more post office 
closures.
>Picket lines were mounted outside sorting offices and mail centres 
across
>the country from early morning, disrupting mail deliveries for the
>day.</p>
><p>
>In Birmingham, two picket lines at the front and back gates of the 
main
>mail centre in Newtown saw, on and off, tens of postal workers and 
their
>supporters, while 'Royal Mail police' were trying to break up the 
picket
>lines, intimidating and threatening picketers. There was also another
>picket line  in the city centre. [<a
>href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374716.html">report and pics</a>]
</p>
><p>
>Last week, a well-attended <a
>href="http://www.savegloucestermailcentre.co.uk/marchrally.htm"
>march</a>
>took place in Gloucester, followed by a rally in the docks, as part 
of a
><a href="http://www.savegloucestermailcentre.co.uk/why.htm"
>campaign</a>
>against the planned closure of the Gloucester Mail Centre. A similar 
<a
>href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/03/366674.html">march and rally</a> 
were
>held in Coventry city centre last March to protest against the 
planned
>closure of Coventry's sorting office.</p>
><p>
><strong>Links:</strong> <a
>href="http://www.cwu.org/default.asp?step=8&CamID=32">CWU's Save 
Postal
>Services campaign</a>
>
>Content:
>
><h4>The fight will go on</h4>
><p>
>Having tried "every measure possible" to seek a fair resolution to 
the
>long dispute with the Royal Mail management, 77% of CWU members had 
voted
>for industrial action to "force the Royal Mail to think again." The
>management has repeatedly refused the CWU offers of meaningful talks. 
</p>
><p>
>Back in 2006, Royal Mail and the CWU had agreed that they would work
>together to tackle the impact of competition in the mail market, use
>government investment to introduce automation, improve efficiency,
>introduce innovation products and raise the value and status of 
postal
>workers' jobs. Royal Mail, however, ditched the agreement, refused to
>negotiate a pay resettlement and insisted on unilateral imposition of 
its
>cost-cutting business plan with mass job losses and cuts to workers' 
pay
>and pensions. Furthermore, the Royal Mail management has been 
deliberately
>misleading the public by claiming that the CWU want a 27% pay rise. 
The
>CWU said they had never demanded a 27% pay rise.</p>
><p>
>The CWU has warned of a fresh round of industrial action unless the
>deadlocked row is resolved. However, the union said it was holding 
back
>from naming fresh strike dates for a week, in the hope of restarting
>meaningful talks with Royal Mail.</p>
>
><h4>It ain't so easy</h4>
><p>
>Starved of investment for decades, Royal Mail now faces unfair 
competition
>from private operators who, for a discounted price, collect and sort
>profitable bulk business mail before passing it on to Royal Mail to
>deliver over the "final mile". The result is that Royal Mail has lost
>millions of pounds in revenues while the profits of private 
competitors
>have soared.</p>
><p>
>Since the Postal Services Act 2000 was introduced, over 1,000 post 
offices
>around the country have been closed down, paving the way for private
>companies to take over. There are further plans to close some 70 post
>offices in the near future and relocate the services into WH Smith 
stores.
>Yet, operators such as TNT or DHL only handle the bulk transit 
between
>major customers and the main sorting offices, which is the easy bit, 
while
>Royal Mail is still expected to make the individual deliveries, but
>without the full amount of the postage.</p>
><p>
>On the picket lines in Birmingham, postal workers spoke of low 
salaries
>and hardships, insecurities and increasingly precarious working
>conditions. Many workers are being hired or contracted on a short-
term or
>temporary basis, mostly part-time, sometimes for days or even hours. 
This
>is why, one picketer explained, a lot of them are afraid of joining 
the
>picket lines. "They simply want to improve their work conditions and 
that
>requires the blessing of their bosses," she added.</p>
>
><h4>Official lies</h4>
><p>
>Two Indymedia 'reporters' with a video camera went in to see the Mail
>Centre's management to get the other side of the story, so to speak, 
but
>"no one was available for interviews," they were told after some 
waiting.
>They were, however, given the official statement of Royal Mail, which
>stated that the company is "extremely disappointed that the Union has
>failed to grasp the need for the business to modernise and embarked 
on
>strike action that is damaging for our customers, our people and the
>company." The statement also claimed, among other things, that there 
have
>been 25% pay increase since 2002 and bonus payments totalling £1,500.
>"Nonetheless," it added, "we do want to further increase pay and 
rewards
>for our people. The offer on the table is a fair and realistic one – 
a
>2.5% increase in basic pensionable pay, a £800 dividend if 
performance
>targets are hit and 50-50 share of any savings above budget at local
>office level." However, "against the backdrop of an increasing tough 
and
>shrinking market," it concluded, "we can't afford to pay more."</p>
><p>
>It is well known that the top bosses of Royal Mail are paid some of 
the
>highest salaries in the country. Earlier this month, Royal Mail 
'awarded'
>its chief executive, Adam Crozier, a bonus of up to £370,000 as well 
as 
>further benefits, taking his total package to more than £1 million 
and
>making him the highest-paid civil servant. Allan Leighton, the 
company’s
>chairman, is also said to have received a bonus of more than £100,000.
</p>
><p>
>As to the "post chaos", as the infamous Birmingham Mail called it, 
Royal
>Mail said "we have developed contingency plans in order to reduce the
>effect of the strike but disruption is inevitable." Indeed, some 
Royal
>Mail managers were seen delivering Special Deliveries in town. "For 
once,"
>as one of the picketers put it, "let them do some real work."</p>
><p>
>Friday’s postal strike saw overwhelming support. Over 95% of postal
>workers across the country were said to have taken part in the 
action.
>Royal Mail, however, claimed that support for the strike was 
"patchy".
>Responding to this claim, which was quickly picked up by many 
mainstream
>media [<a
>href="http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_headline=mail-
strike-support-claims-rejected%26method=full%26objectid=19381100%
26siteid=50002-name_page.html">1</a>
>| <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6251932.stm">2</a>], 
CWU's
>General Secretary Billy Hayes said "the company has been in denial 
about
>their workforce rejecting their plans and are now in denial about the
>overwhelming support of postal workers taking strike action. It is 
time
>for them to stop dismissing the views of their employees, return to 
the
>table and start negotiating."</p>
>
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