NATIONAL DISPUTE NEWS - Update 19th August

Dave Ward writing in LTB716/09 on 19th August, updates Branches on the national postal dispute situation:

Following a meeting with Mark Higson, the Managing Director of Royal Mail on Friday 14th August, the Union has written to Royal Mail making a number of points about our current dispute.

Firstly, we have welcomed the fact that Royal Mail has finally accepted that Phase 4 of the 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement, did explicitly commit the company to  further national negotiations and further national agreements on a range of crucial issues that will shape how we take forward modernisation. It is important that we convey to our members that this was not Royal Mail’s public position a few weeks ago. 

However, given that we know, from past experience, that Royal Mail conduct meetings on the basis of lectures and not proper negotiations, we have made the company a fresh offer on how talks should proceed.  The Union has proposed that both parties immediately commit to an intensive period of national negotiations based on meeting 3 days a week over the next month.  In order to demonstrate that the company are now serious about resolving this dispute we have asked the Managing Director to confirm acceptance of our offer by close of play today.

Secondly, we have responded to an invitation from the Managing Director to formulate ground rules that would ensure local change is agreed and deployed fairly, in line with all national agreements, and not on the basis of managerial executive action. 

We have asked Royal Mail to cease all further planned executive action and immediately reach acceptable agreement in all offices where executive action has already taken place. 

With regard to deployment of fair local change, we have identified a key problem as being that management are imposing unfair work rates to fit unrealistic budget demands, which means that many of our members simply cannot cope with the resulting workload. As a solution to this problem, the Union has offered Royal Mail the opportunity to engage external independent experts in the field of work study, to once and for all establish fair and objective measurement of employees’ workloads.

Finally, we have raised again, our serious concerns over the appalling way that Royal Mail managers are treating postal workers in many offices. As a solution to this problem we have asked the Managing Director to intervene and stop some of the current management behaviour, which amounts to bullying and intimidation. We have also asked the Managing Director to agree to an external independent enquiry into the managerial bullying and harassment of postal workers.

On all of the aforementioned issues we will advise you of further developments in due course.

Given that Royal Mail continue to selectively display letters between the national parties on their intranet system we have enclosed a copy, of the letter that has been sent to the Managing Director and a copy of our latest press release for information purposes.

Download: original LTB including letter to Mark Higson

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