British union to restart “Keep the Post Public” campaign
Britain’s biggest communications industry union has voted to re-launch its crusade against the government’s plans to privatise Royal Mail. The Communication Workers Union, which represents some 207,500 members in the UK postal and telecoms industries, began its annual conference in Bournemouth yesterday with a unanimous backing for the restart of the “Keep the Post Public” campaign.
The Government coalition passed enabling legislation last summer to allow a sale of Royal Mail as part of efforts to modernise Britain’s universal services provider as mail volumes decline.
But while ministers have since then achieved a number of key steps towards privatisation, including a state takeover of Royal Mail’s GBP 28bn legacy pension liabilities, they have said they are looking to continue reshaping the company and seeing it through a period of financial stability before they will take the final decision to privatise.
Expectations are, however, that the company could be partially or fully privatised in late 2013.
The CWU said today there was no “moral or economic case” for selling off Royal Mail.
The union says with the Royal Mail Group making a GBP 321m profit in 2009 and GBP 404m profit in 2010, and modernisation efforts fully funded with its own funds and state aid, there was no need for investment from private backers.
John Woodhouse, the delegate who moved yesterday’s resolution to restart the Keey the Post Public campaign, said: “Privatisation will be about the drive for profit and prices will go through the roof. To save jobs and save the service, we’ve got to keep the post public.”
Other delegates during yesterday’s proceedings said they would not be content with the offer of shares in the company.
Campaign
“Privatisation is neither necessary nor inevitable”
The union’s leadership spoke during yesterday’s debate to back the resolution. General Secretary Billy Hayes said: “We’re sending a clear message that privatisation is neither necessary nor inevitable, but even if it does take place, we will be campaigning to ensure that the Labour Party repeals it.”
The CWU ran its Keep the Post Public Campaign in 2010 and 2011 ahead of Parliament’s passing of the Postal Services Act, which laid the legal framework for privatising Royal Mail last summer. The campaign included rallies and protests involving thousands of protestors around the country.
Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said the union would now get together to consider how to reinvigorate its Keep the Post Public campaign.
“The debate on privatisation is far from over, and we have to keep the pressure on the government,” he said.
Last week, the union said an Early Day Motion it was supporting, calling for a halt to the “downgrading” of 2,000 post offices into streamlined “local” branches, had now been signed by 101 Members of Parliament.
Hayes said it was a “remarkable level of support” for the non-binding measure gauging politicians’ views on key issues.
“MPs from an array of political parties have put their names to the growing chorus of opposition to these proposals,” said the CWU general secretary.
