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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

The Posties at Bournemouth

by New Worker correspondent

The postal workers’ section opened with a reminder of two of the union’s achievements: the 2014 Dangerous Dogs Act and a building regulation to ensure that letterboxes in new houses are an easy hit for postal workers. All very well, but one would have thought there were bigger fish to fry. And the high-profile scandal involving the Post Office and the dodgy computing equipment which saw many postmasters wrongly convicted for fraud was not one which greatly involved the CWU, although it has given the union a stick to beat their bosses with.

Needless to say, pay is a major issue. The next round of national pay talks for 2025/6 begin soon, under the cloud of Royal Mail seeking to end six day deliveries, a measure with CWU has just agreed to. A great deal of time and energy was devoted to plans to restructure the union, but leadership efforts to change from annual conference to one held every two years was defeated, although it might be a virtual event on alternative years.

In the name of “modernisation” Royal Mail wants to run a parcel based service using casual labour. New entrants are already facing worse pay and conditions which have been unilaterally imposed by management. This will not go unchallenged. The “fight to uplift them and not have a two-tier workforce” has become a major priority. But the union agreed that the 18 days of industrial action over 2022/23 which resulted in them agreeing to the Business Recovery, Transformation & Growth (BRTG) agreement was the best that could be hoped for under the circumstances.

However, it is clear that Royal Mail Management has not changed their ways. It has unilaterally rolled out a new “My Performance” app to spy on their workers. Royal Mail’s “Human Resources”, now dubbed the “Headcount Reduction” department leads the drive to pick fights with their workers at the slightest excuse.

Comparatively minor issues agreed upon were for better support for ex-armed forces postal workers who often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder along with free temporary mail redirection service for anyone staying in a domestic abuse refuge.

Postal work is fairly healthy. Delivering mail keeps workers fit but it can wear down older workers who should be given lighter duties in the run-up to retirement. These were just a few of the health matters discussed.

While there were many decent agreements in place at national level they are often ignored by local management. It also appears that external contractors are both costing a fortune and poorly servicing the Royal mail’s fleet of vehicles.

Some of the changes already agreed have turned out to be much worse than expected. One such was the Network Windows scheme in Scotland, which has led to much later start and finish times, a collapse in workers’ quality of life and a wider threat to full-time jobs. This might be rolled out elsewhere in the UK. Postal workers complain of increased loads for remaining workers as the number of routes is cut.

The postal conference concluded by expressing opposition to the potential takeover of the privatised Royal Mail by EP Corporate Group, which is buying into International Distribution Services (IDS), Royal Mail Group’s holding company.

The union’s opposition does not mean endorsing the present management and that what the industry urgently needs is a new ownership and governance model that will focus on its responsibility to deliver in the best interests of the public, businesses and the workers who provide this essential service. The union committed itself to “oppose by all means possible any attempt to: break up the company, introduce franchising or outsourcing, introduce a three or four day service or raid the pension surplus”.

While wanting a “postal service for the workers and customers – not one solely focused on shareholder payouts, driving down the service and lowering the pay, terms and conditions of postal workers and to launch the widest possible public and political campaign to deliver this,” any reference to nationalisation was absent.

Telecoms

The CWU’s more hi-tech part, the Telecoms & Financial Services (T&FS) Conference took place in parallel to that of the postal workers. While it has 28 different companies to deal with, the biggest and worst is British Telecommunications with which the union has fought many battles. The section’s Deputy General Secretary, Andy Kerr, said the former CEO of BT was the worst he had ever seen going by his experience of the 2020 dispute – one which could have been avoided if BT’s old school managers had still been in place.

Despite its 21st Century technology BT and many other hi-tech companies have 19th century master and servant views on industrial relations. NEC member Jonathan Bellshaw complained that “we’re in one of the worst living crises that I’ve known and workplace conditions at BT were becoming increasingly Dickensian”.

CWU’s next aim is a shorter working week with no loss of pay, but a more pressing question is workplace surveillance. One motion opposed inward-facing spy cameras and recording devices in work vehicles used by BT.

Some successes were reported in forcing bosses to withdraw intrusive spyware including at Openreach. Other complaints concern appalling buildings and no soap in the toilets – the latter an example of “penny-pinching gone mad” and “unacceptable, for a blue-chip company boasting of its successes recruiting female engineers – but then refusing to provide proper, hygienic facilities”.

One issue that roused the conference to their feet was the case of the planned closure of a BT site in Enniskillen which will see 300 jobs transferred to Belfast, more than 80 miles away. This is only one of many similar efforts by BT to centralise its sites and cut jobs.

Conference warned it would be “using all means up to and including industrial action,” to oppose job cuts and outsourcing. In particular Openreach frames engineers are facing job cuts in the south east of England, despite BT hiring external contractors in this expanding line of work.

One of those affected, Eugene Caparros from South Wales, said the collective consultation process for these workers as “a sham and a rush to put members out the door,” adding “our response to any future repeat must be strong”.

‘BT Speak Up’, which is an anonymous complaints system set up by BT Group, was attacked by delegates because it may be being abused by those with personal grudges making vexatious and false allegations. Such systems are being introduced in many other companies, sometimes at the behest of trade unions eager to allow workers a safe route to make complaints about bad supervisors or fellow workers.

It is hardly surprising that such a facility gets abused. The conference heard from a delegate who had been injured but was accused by “workmates” of faking her injuries which she said: “made me lose all trust in my peers. I didn’t know who I could trust anymore”. A Lincolnshire & South Yorkshire delegate said that “we’ve had three branch officials subject to various ‘Speak Ups’”. A Midland delegate complained that “malicious reports are being made and there is no comeback. Investigations are causing innocent members stress and concern” while another pointed out that while systems such as these were put in place as a result of new laws to protect ‘whistle-blowers’ who report corporate crimes they are, in practice, being turned on workers and in particular trade unionists. Surprise, surprise...