London's damaging postal disorder: The Post Office has suffered one of its most disastrous years on record.

THE DAYS when you could stick a first-class stamp on a letter and trust it would be delivered the next day have disappeared down the post box. Almost one million letters went missing in the mail over the past 12 months, leaving the Post Office forced to admit this week that its customers have suffered one of the most disastrous years on record. Consignia, the new name for Royal Mail's owner, presenting its annual results, revealed that unofficial strikes over the same period resulted in more than 62,000 lost working days. Such a scenario of walkouts causing mail to arrive days late, or not turn up at all, has become all too familiar for the 2.3 million residential addresses and 160,000 businesses served in London. Consignia spelled out that a 78 per cent drop in profits last year to £103 million means that jobs will be lost unless there is a rapid improvement in industrial relations. An independent review revealing the extent of the breakdown in relations between managers and staff is due to be published next month. The summer began with the postal system close to meltdown in an unofficial national strike backed by Royal Mail's volatile London workforce. It left a backlog of around 50 million items across the country. The mood of intransigence among members of the Communications Workers' Union was perfectly summed up in a memo sent by a union rep during the dispute. It ended by telling members to "enjoy" their extended Bank Holiday weekend. London has the worst standard of mail deliveries in the country with a
workforce riven with inefficient and destructive work practices that were
mostly eradicated in other industries 20 years ago – time wasting, skiving
and walkouts. Remarkably 1,000 postal staff at the notoriously hardline Almeida Street sorting office in Islington staged a mass walkout in support of two alleged football hooligan brothers. A special Evening Standard inquiry has discovered that postal workers are all too happy to erode Royal Mail's position as the premier delivery service. Resistance to change at grassroots level is strong. Royal Mail's so-called Way Forward programme to introduce more "flexible" working practices has been accepted by the union nationally, and by more than half of all delivery offices nationwide, but by only two of 100 London offices. The situation is critical for Royal Mail. At present nearly two million letters are delivered late every day nationally, and in some areas of east and north London almost one in five first-class letters fail to arrive the next day. Royal Mail blames a "militant minority of union activists" engaged in unnecessary confrontation over changes to the capital's mail services. The union's London leaders, however, say they are legitimately opposing an "inefficient" restructuring programme that will cause 2,000 job losses. These are the practices the Evening Standard inquiry revealed were still
endemic in the Post Office: Early cutoffs IT is common for postmen not to work a full day. Some will finish their second delivery round and, rather than go back to the office to sort mail for the following day, head off home. This failure to work the contracted eight-hour day and 40-hour week is regarded as the biggest problem by Royal Mail – and the company's number one employment issue. London's golf courses are favourite haunts of postmen with easy rounds. One industry source said Royal Mail has "a lot of golfing enthusiasts". Postmen may use their shortened days to prepare for a change of career – large numbers of black cab drivers are former postmen. The CWU reports that early cutoffs were still a problem up until five years ago but have now "almost completely disappeared". Maximising overtime LARGE amounts of overtime are claimed – sometimes regardless of whether the work has been done. The Standard was told that "phantom overtime" – where overtime is paid whether the work has been carried out or not – remains a problem at Royal Mail. Union leaders will ask managers at a particular office to guarantee a certain level of overtime even if there is not enough work requiring the extra hours to be worked. Many staff rely on substantial amounts of overtime to supplement their salaries. Postal staff say it is a notoriously poorly paid industry where employees in London delivery offices can earn more than £20,000 only if they are willing to put in a 70-hour week. But by manipulating the system some can earn considerably more. The highest-earning postman in the country works out of the Mount Pleasant mail centre in north London and takes home "well in excess of £35,000". Union officials like the traditional overtime system because it gives them considerable power of patronage over their members at the grass roots. Resistance to Way Forward was predictable as those who do a lot of overtime stand to earn less while others would enjoy a wage rise. Demarcation 'Postal workers have turned up for a shift and found a wildcat strike. They refuse to cross the picket line without knowing what the strike is about' SOME rank-and-file postal workers will refuse to do any task, however urgent or straightforward, that falls outside their job description. Requests to work 10 minutes over the contractually stated hours are denied. As one former Royal Mail employee said: "If we were supposed to go out on deliveries at 7am then we would. We wouldn't carry on sorting post for another 10 minutes to clear a backlog." A classic get-out clause is the "318 excuse". Staff are versed by
experienced colleagues that they can refuse to do any unusual task by citing
the 318 strict duty sheet which sets out their job description and working
hours. Postal workers waiting to share a van to make deliveries will not help
someone with a heavy sorting workload but simply wait for that person to
finish sorting. Even a request to move to a different work area and perform a task very similar to the job description may be turned down. Seniority THE longer staff have worked at Royal Mail, the more privileges they enjoy. It governs how work is allocated, what shifts are worked, and access to overtime and holidays. Managers say this system encourages long-serving staff to "milk the system" and not put in sufficient effort. One industry source said: "A hardworking young postman can be kicked off a delivery route by a more senior colleague who fancies a shorter route with fewer hills. Both then have to get used to a new route and it slows down the service." CWU officials have resisted attempts to change the system because they say it is the fairest way of allocating work and avoids favouritism. The union believes the real motive behind the attack on seniority is to casualise the workforce by increasing the use of part-time and temporary staff. Non-genuine breaks STAFF in London mail centres are known to enjoy regular cigarette or tea breaks outside their designated breaks. A stock excuse, according to a former processing centre employee, is to say: "I'm going to see a union rep." Staff are safe in the knowledge that supervisors are reluctant to challenge the workforce's right to consult their powerful union. The issue came to a head when a dispute broke out at the Princess Royal sorting office in Willesden over "grace breaks". Traditionally staff had been given these breaks when there was no work but
management regard them as a goodwill gesture and tension continues over their
status. The CWU denies that staff take extra breaks and says they are too closely monitored by managers. Refusal to relocate LOCAL unions will start a dispute claiming they have not been consulted over relocation – sometimes even when it has been agreed by the CWU nationally and sometimes even by their own London representatives. Some 1,200 staff at the Almeida Street office have just approved industrial action over transfer of their work to several other offices despite an agreement at national level. Royal Mail says the arguments put forward by the union – that it will harm efficiency and inflict long journeys on staff – are unfounded. Previous attempts to merge delivery offices have resulted in unofficial strikes even though Royal Mail offered to pay for all additional travelling costs. Unofficial strikes and union agitation UNION reps wield a great deal of influence over their colleagues and may take unofficial action without consulting all the staff they represent – typically, postal workers have turned up for a shift and found that a wildcat strike has begun without their knowledge. They see a picket line has been formed and refuse to cross it unaware of why it is there. Mike, a former Royal Mail delivery van driver, said: "It can be a ridiculous situation where one small unit in an office has walked out over some issue and everyone else goes along with them." Royal Mail sources claimed during the wildcat strike in May that many
strikers did not understand what they were protesting about but were simply
"following orders". The CWU disputes these claims. Blacking the mail ROYAL MAIL claims that the recent dispute represented a return to the Seventies tactic of "blacking the mail" where staff refuse to handle mail destined for other offices out on strike. Mail unsorted because of strike action should be moved on to other centres under a national agreement but this can be ignored
locally and become a reason for walking out. Union leaders refused to handle any mail they suspected had been sorted by management volunteers. Intimidation of women and bullying THE switch to more part-time labour as well as greater automation is bringing more women workers into the postal service. However, a study by the Economic and Social Research Council found that sorting offices had a "deeply macho" culture which can be intimidating for female staff. One woman reported having to unload a lorry alone, an attempt to make her prove she could do the job, and another said she repeatedly found her handbag tied to her chair and her glasses missing. Royal Mail says harassment of women is "largely a thing of the past" but staff at the Putney office are being balloted on industrial action over the alleged harassment of a female employee. General bullying and violence in the work place has occurred. An
unofficial strike in London in 1996 was sparked by the disciplining of an
employee who had allegedly assaulted a colleague. THE CWU admits there is a genuine industrial relations problem at Royal Mail but strongly refutes that its members resort to old-style, obstructive union activities. Derek Hodgson, the union's general secretary, said such customs went out several decades ago along with "winkle-pickers and mohair suits", adding: "It is a London myth and
should be laid to rest with the Limehouse Golem [a clay monster of Jewish
legend] and the Highgate phantoms." Union sources claim practices such as leaving work early existed five years ago but have been largely eradicated. One union official said: "There are so many managers watching what staff are doing there's no way they could get away with it unnoticed." The CWU leadership blames Royal Mail's confrontational managerial style for provoking disputes. Mr Hodgson said: "They regularly contribute to industrial unrest by being inflexible, unreasonable and stubborn."