Postal workers caution bosses about new plans (From This Is Local London)

Postal workers caution bosses about new plans

10:39am Wednesday 22nd August 2007

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Royal Mail workers have warned the suspension of industrial action may only be temporary if bosses continue to push ahead with changes to working practices and conditions which would see borough residents and small businesses, as well as the workers themselves, suffer.

Members of the Communication Workers Union, in a joint statement with Royal Mail, announced they were suspending strike action, which has been in place since July 29, in a bid to reach a solution before September 4.

Last week a member of the South West Middlesex Branch of the Communication Workers Union, which covers the TW post code area, said Royal Mail staff feel they have no choice but to continue their industrial action if they are to preserve the future of the service.

But strikes planned for last week and this week did not take place as the CWU agreed to meet Royal Mail to discuss the company's modernisation plans which could lead to 40,000 redundancies and a below-inflation pay offer along with changes to shift patterns and a much later mail delivery.

A spokesperson for local CWU members said bosses wanted postmen to start work at 6.15am rather than 5am and not begin their rounds until 10am, meaning some residents and small businesses might not get any post until after lunch.

Amid fears delivery staff may be expected to collect mail on the way back to the office, and only one collection of post a day, it would be impossible to give a next-day reply to important mail.

A local spokesperson said that plans were being put in place to scrap the Sunday collection of mail, which, coupled with later deliveries on Saturdays, meant it would be impossible to get a reply delivered by Monday morning to Saturday post.

During the talks Royal Mail agreed not serve notice or take any unilateral action to impose changes by executive action and the CWU will suspend industrial action for the same period.

But local postmen, who are also fighting to preserve their final salary pension scheme, which the company wants to scrap, and to retain the retirement age of 60, have said strikes may resume if a solution is not reached.

And workers were seething again earlier this week when Royal Mail bosses accused the CWU of fighting a political campaign to challenge the right to competition in the postal service.

"We are hopeful an agreement will be arrived at," said a local CWU spokesperson. "But there are so many issues our negotiators have a very hard task in front of them. They have a real task on their hands to reach an agreeable solution.

"Of course we are pleased to be back at work, we believe it is a public service and the public should get the best service we can provide, the earlier we can get their mail to them in the morning the better.

"Around 60 per cent of addresses will get their mail after midday under the new working conditions, and that is unacceptable, we want to see our negotiators resolve that.

"We are pleased to be back providing the service but we want to provide it in the future, Royal Mail just want to run a business."

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