Union tells Hewitt to protect UK Royal Mail
Postal union leaders will this week tell Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt that she must put the brakes on the commercialisation of the Royal Mail to prevent the disintegration of the service.
Communication Workers Union leader Billy Hayes and his deputy Dave Ward will meet Hewitt on Wednesday and demand that Labour’s election manifesto include a review of the 2000 Postal Services Act, which set in train the process for liberalising the Royal Mail.
They want the pace of change to be slowed down. They are also seeking reassurances that allowing com petitors such as Business Post, Deutsche Post and TPG to deliver business mail, is not the first step to the gradual privatisation of the UK postal market.
The talks come after a fraught week for Royal Mail, which faces an pounds 80 million fine for failing to meet most of its 15 ‘standard of service’ targets, and allegations of corruption and poor management made in Channel 4’s Dispatches programme last week.
The poor service-standard performance and the revelations are also increasing tension between the CWU and the company. Ward attacked Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton for ignoring the details of the radical reform of working practices – such as introducing single deliveries and restructuring sorting offices – that he has introduced as part of a three-year plan to restore profitability to the business.
‘Leighton likes to talk about the big picture, but he does not get involved in the details. He has also inspired a false confidence in local managers that they can force through changes without consulting unions,’ said Ward.
But Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier said the targets were affected by last year’s strike action and the change programme would see performance improve. He added that the documentary did not represent the majority of the postal workforce: a point on which unions agree.
A CWU source said: ‘We don’t believe the Government has a vision for the Royal Mail. Increasing commercial freedom has been a disaster. We want [the Government] to commit itself to the Royal Mail as a public service, to know for definite that it does not plan to sell it off, and for a level playing field with the rest of Europe.’
