CWU

The Communication Workers Union is issuing around 130,000 ballot papers to Royal Mail workers asking them to support industrial action. The ballot has been called in response to a 2.5% pay offer and the implementation of £350 million of cuts in work places. In addition the ballot has been called to oppose Royal Mail's business plan that includes £1.5 billion cuts over the next 5 years. CWU's proposal to resolve the dispute is: * an inflation pay increase; * Royal Mail to set aside the business plan and provide a period of calm to allow negotiations for a national agreement on the impact of...

By a CWU member POSTAL workers are balloting for strike action on a pay offer that can hardly even be called that. Under Royal Mail's “full and final” offer, there will be no increase in basic pay at all, just a lump sum of £250-550 per person — and that depending on £350 million in productivity “savings”. Bonuses for junk mail and election material will be scrapped. Harassment of those on sick will be stepped up. Meanwhile, seventy Post Offices are being transferred to WH Smith, threatening thousands of jobs. A strong yes vote is the first step in taking the offensive.

By Maria Exall, CWU executive THE CWU Telecoms Executive has made an agreement with BT Global, the division of BT that deals with contracts for businesses, that means In the future BT will be able to outsource UK work to India with the acquiescence of the union. It is recommending members vote yes to this agreement. The agreement that has been done at national level is currently out to a ballot of 6,000 BT Global CWU members. Several branches are opposing the deal though the Executive has done the hard sell, not backed however by hard evidence. Many of the meetings with members to tell them...

By Chris Leary WORKERS at the Burslem sorting office in Staffordshire are in the process of balloting for further strike action against the sacking of a long standing worker after a previous strike. The ballot – 99% yes to further action! – concerns the misapplication of conduct procedure by Royal Mail managers. The sacked worker was first suspended for eight weeks on the testimony of just two managers for eight weeks. Andrew Plant, branch secretary of CWU Midland No. 7 branch which covers Burslem, told Solidarity that since the ballot for action was announced, Royal Mail managers have moved...

Defend Mark O’Reilly STOP press: North/ Northwest London CWU branch has perpetrated a bureaucratic stitch-up against Mark O’Reilly, a postal worker at Finsbury Park depot. Mark decided to challenge the incumbent union rep who has colluded with management over job cuts for over two years. Mark distributed a leaflet to workmates that referred to high work levels over the last Xmas period and demanded to know what the rep had done to alleviate the burden on staff. The branch then told Mark that he was banned from standing as he had contravened rules against canvassing, and the current rep would...

Central London Communication Workers' Union has produced a document in response to the issue of jobs in the telecoms industry being "offshored", with the aim of promoting a debate in the CWU and broader workers' movement. Below a CWU member discusses the issue raised by the document. For the document itself, or more information, email secretary@cwucentrallondon.org.uk Remote sourcing and the threat to jobs it contains is one of the most important issues that the CWU faces in the telecoms industry. Profit hungry multinationals, like BT and others in other industries, are threatening hundreds of...

As Solidarity went to press, the deadlocked negotiations between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers' Union over pay looked as if they would end not with the issue of ballot papers for a national strike but with a deal. What mixture of management concessions and union capitulation this will entail remains to be seen. If the strike ballot goes ahead and members vote yes, it will open a huge battle, one likely to decide not only the next pay deal but the future of the Post Office as well. CWU conference in May voted unanimously for a strike ballot. This came after Royal Mail management's...

For the first time, a major union has put down a marker for the forthcoming Labour Party leadership contest. At its conference in Bournemouth on 21-26 May, the Communication Workers’ Union voted to support, in the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election, only candidates who support the principles of trade union rights as outlined in the proposed Trade Union Freedom Bill — and who are committed to keeping the Post Office in 100 per cent public ownership. Proposing the London West End Amalgamated branch motion, London regional secretary John Denton said such a stance was vital if the...

By a CWU conference delegate AT the postal section of the CWU conference (21-6 May) the plans for tackling Allan Leighton’s attempts to push the liberalisation agenda further in Royal Mail were discussed, but at General Conference which deals with the whole union the issue arose in motions on policy and politics. There was a negative motion that called for suspension of payments to Labour if the Government backs Leighton on the issuing of shares to staff. It was carried with the support of the executive as Government intervention on this issue would certainly lead to a review of the CWU-Labour...