Post Office criticises structure proposals
THREATENED widespread deregulation of postal services could spark
resignations by top Post Office executives, strike action by
posties, thousands of job losses and the end of the uniform tariff
structure.
Graham Corbett, PostComm chairman, has let it be known that he
expects to sanction ‘serious’ competition for postal services by the
autumn and license four or five operators to deliver bulk mail
between cities such as
London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. In addition,
there will be many licences for local mail deliveries.
In a submission to government the Communications Workers Union has
accused the regulator of going beyond his remit and asked Stephen
Byers, the trade and industry secretary, to call the ‘rogue
regulator to heel’.
Now the Post Office, albeit in far more measured tones, has been
equally critical of PostComm. In its submission it finds it ‘very
disappointing to be faced with a licence that appears to seek to
diminish the confidence in the postal service and undermine the
uniform structure that has served well all consumers irrespective of
their geographical location’.
The PO is particularly concerned that, while its charges are to be
frozen for two years, private carriers could be allowed to ‘cream
skin’ lucrative routes between, and within, major cities
undercutting the Royal Mail in the process.
Another major bone of contention is PostComm’s plan to open up the
postal network to outsiders, using the example of gas suppliers
being given access to British Gas pipeline system.
Meanwhile, CWU members, who are already responsible for half of the
working days lost in the UK, are hardly likely to stop their rash of
wildcat unofficial strikes in the face of creeping privatisation
despite entreaties from union leaders and PO management.
In a classic catch-22 situation PostComm is expected to use union
militancy as an excuse to open up parts of the service to private
operators – with Edinburgh, the epicentre of CWU militancy in recent
years, seen as among the first in line for deregulation.
Copyright 2001 The Herald (United Kingdom).
Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark) – FT McCarthy.
THE HERALD (UNITED KINGDOM), 06th March 2001
