Deadlock in Post Office dispute

By Camilla Lake

Negotiations over pay, pensions and modernisation are "ongoing" between the communications union, CWU, and bosses at Royal Mail.

Meanwhile a strike is planned for next week, with a threat of action extending towards Christmas.

A group of post office workers has been demonstrating outside the Post Office in Devonshire Square, collecting signatures from members of the public who showed "massive support."

Some postal deliveries were possible this week.

Royal Mail is claiming that staff are 25 per cent overpaid and is attempting to introduce flexible working as well as make changes to its company pension scheme.

Strike action began last week at midday on Thursday and finished at midday on Saturday, then resumed again on Monday at 3am.

By the third day more than 500 people had signed their petition condemning cuts to the service and closure of urban and rural Post Offices.

Paul Plim, unit representative for Bexhill Post Office workers, said he was encouraged by the response from the public.

"There are so many facets of this dispute," he said. "Royal Mail is claiming that we are overpaid and underworked.

"They keep coming up with this fact that our competitors handle 40 per cent of the mail. They do, but we deliver 99.9 percent of all mail in the country.

"We have a universal service obligation to the public. However we are being undermined by a product called 'downstream access', which has been brought in the system with the backing of PostComm and the Government, and allows our rivals access to our system and our network.

"In fact it means we are delivering our rivals' mail for less than we are delivering our own mail for.

"Then our company turns to us and says we are not making money, therefore we have to make severe cuts.

"That is the problem. If we were able to operate on a level playing field with our rivals we would not be having a problem."

Meanwhile a dozen postal workers have continued to work inside the building helping management deal with letters, parcels and packages brought in and awaiting delivery.

The dispute is expected to intensify next week with the introduction of new start times of 6.15am for postal workers instead of 5am - which they have not yet accepted - leading to daily deliveries to customers being pushed back by one hour. This aspect of the wide-ranging disagreement between Royal Mail and postal workers is now the focus of a nationwide Industrial Tribunal.

Chris Short has been a postal worker for 21 years and said: "We don't want to go on strike because we are losing money. Our wages are low as it is.

"I am disgusted.

"I hope we win - for everyone. Even for the people who are going in, I still hope we win for them."

He was joined by Marie Davey who is angry about proposed changes to the pension system.

She said: "I have been on 28 years. Now they are trying to do away with the cash lump sum and make us stay on for five years more. I am on the maximum amount for the pension when I am 60, and I have made financial arrangements with that in mind but they are saying now they are going to take it away.

"They have been talking about us disrupting other peoples' lives but that is what they are doing to us."

A statement from Royal Mail this week said it was "hugely disappointed and extremely concerned" that intensive talks with the Communications Workers Union have not resolved the issues and further strike action was planned.

"After a weekend of intense negotiations the CWU is still refusing to accept the flexibility that Royal Mail urgently needs if it is to modernise and survive. Royal Mail has also offered both short and longer term solutions on pay, within the 2.5 mper cent we can afford for pay this year.

"We have now been talking to the union for seven months on pay, modernisation and pensions, but rather than accept a solution, the union continues to table unrealistic proposals that fail to deliver the efficiency needed if we are to compete in today's challenging marketplace."

"We would like to thank all of our people who are supporting us during the dispute and doing all they can to keep the postal service moving and deliver the mail to our customers.

"We apologise to customers for any delay and inconvenience caused by the CWU's strike action."