inside the postal dispute
WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003 ISSUE
Northampton was deeply involved in the postal workers' recent pay ballot and unofficial action. Workers spoke to one postal worker from the town to hear their side of the story.
Why did the union fail to get a yes vote in their recent pay ballot?
The vote was actually quite close. Many branches such as Northampton delivered an overwhelming yes vote. However, management made it very hard. We couldn't hold meetings on the premises, so had to go outside. Workers were bombarded with propaganda, so it was really important to keep up the counter-propaganda on our side. They brought in consultants to help them get at our members.
How did Royal Mail react to the result?
The managers took the vote as a sign that they could completely ignore the union. The national union leaders were called to a meeting which lasted 8 minutes! Management basically said that the world had changed and we had to sign their deal and accept restructuring - we would be sidelined. The union refused and left! There were no further talks then. All the local managers were called to huge meetings at Birmingham and Wembley and given the go-ahead to take the same line.
How did the unofficial action start?
In London there had been a big vote for action over London Weighting. In the old days mail would have been diverted to other areas and this might have provoked unofficial action, but Royal Mail didn't do this. However, a couple of drivers were suspended and this triggered the action. Things snowballed as other areas came out in support until it affected about 30,000 workers, even some who voted no in the original ballot.
What happened in Northampton?
Diverted mail came to us and we refused to handle it. Normally we would be suspended, but this time management just put it all into a huge articulated lorry, as they were desperate not to escalate the strike. We could have asked them to provide us all with cream buns and they'd have done it! Although some members wanted to go out too, it was important to hold back at that stage.
The dispute has been resolved. How does this leave the union?
The union is alive and kicking. There won't be local implemention of any conditions not agreed to nationally. No members will be penalised for the action. We have shown that we will not allow them to destroy the union. It's interesting that the company has announced a pre-tax profit of £55 million. So much for the company pleading poverty a few weeks ago! It should now drop its threat of 30,000 job cuts - the letter side of the business is in profit, but that won't last unless you've got the staff.
What does the future look like?
Union and management will now have to reach a new agreement on pay and London Weighting. The two sides have to reach agreement through ACAS on single delivery by December 10th.
Although we've stopped privatisation in its tracks through the use of ballots, we still have to tackle the opening up of services to the private sector which will happen in 2007 or earlier. They want to hive off bulk mailing - that accounts for 30% of the business, which would signal the end of our monopoly.