15 October 2009 - Steve Lawson - © Hellmail Postal News

A report by the BBC's Newsnight highlighted an apparently leaked document in the form of a powerpoint presentation, thought to show that the government and Royal Mail are in collusion to break the CWU's grip on the postal service. The Royal Mail have denied any knowledge of the document which appears to rubber stamp modernisation of the Royal Mail with or without the agreement of the union and with the full backing of the government.

Leader of the Communication Workers Union Billy Hayes described it as "Really worrying" and that it appeared that Royal Mail were unwilling to negotiate. He declined to comment on whether the CWU would cease paying into Labour party funds but said it was time a third party such as ACAS was brought in to help settle the dispute. "We're interested in compromise" he said.

Business secretary Lord Mandelson described the announcement by the Communication Workers Union as a 'death wish' saying that the Royal Mail already faced increased competition and that "no one owed the royal mail its future, no one owes it a living" and that Royal Mail had to stand on its own two feet.

Lord Mandelson said that the government had made it clear on a number of occasions that the pension deficit could only be taken on by the government if the company transformed and accepted modernisation including revised working practices. He said that most postal workers had already accepted change and that only localised areas were resistant.

Talking to the Business & Enterprise Committee in July this year, Lord Mandelson said:

"An agreement has been reached twice on the deployment of new machines. but on both occasions, the wording of those negotiators agreements has been rejected by the Union's postal executive committee. Some local branches indeed, are now claiming that the 2007 agreement was only for one year and wish to go back to the old practices that pre-dated the agreement itself. I remind you, the TUC stood as guarantor over that agreement.

"For several months now, the CWU has instructed its representatives to refuse to agree anything through the industrial relations framework. This is why we've seen these spate of strikes, notably in London. Essentially they are boycotting the agreed process for making change in the Royal Mail.

"I realise that this is a very serious charge to make, but I just look at the facts, and look at the behaviour, and I'm afraid any other conclusion is impossible to arrive at.

"We have been a very generous banker to the Royal Mail and when I say we, I mean the tax payer. The tax payer needs payback for all the money that has been invested in Royal Mail - all the loan guarantees, all the sums of money that have been put aside to shore up the pension fund. The tax payer needs paying back now in the form of a properly modernised, transformed business that will be provided with a service on which they can rely. I don't accept that it is for the government to intervene on agreement. It is for Royal Mail's management and its woprkforce and union representatives to sort out their future in the way that any other business has to do so in the real world." he said.

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