RE: Timing of government announcement26 Aug 2022 13:01
Anger, completely agree with you on the way the CWU have handled this. Amateurish, negligent, and appear to have done nothing to understand the legal position. I feel bad for the workforce having these donkeys leading them, and following their advice, like some calcified voice from the 1970's, but they voted for it. Even after RMG said GLS could be spun off, CWU are still ranting about £700m profit made in most recent, covid boom time, ignoring the fact that GLS made half this profit, and that the boom is over, and that the struggle to compete in a new post-covid world is on.
Meanwhile, RMG management have got all their ducks lined up with a series of triggers to pull, and they have made CWU aware of this since Q1 results. CWU response was rhetoric and to have separate strike ballots on conditions and wages. Not sure why they did this because they are absolutely intertwined, just seemed like bloody mindedness, but perhaps that was the point, be as awkward and intractable as possible ensuring a strike during a recession. Idiocy.
Nobody will be a winner. Strike will be expensive for both sides, but for the workers and families it will be felt personally. For RMG it will mean lost business during a trend of declining volumes, and these lost customers are likely to stay with a cheaper competitor.
According to the telegraph:
"Executives and legal advisers have been collecting evidence to allow them to trigger the break clause in Royal Mail’s legally binding contract with the Communications Workers Union (CWU)". "To pull out of its contract with the CWU, Royal Mail must demonstrate that it faces one or more of the exceptional circumstances detailed in its break clauses. They include events that have a “material adverse effect” on its business or prospects, such as nationwide industrial action. Royal Mail can also ditch the deal if it believes on reasonable grounds that the restrictions imposed by the agreement are making a part of its business financially unsustainable.
No final decision has been taken, sources said, but with losses mounting and few other weapons to deploy in a dispute that appears to have reached an impasse, Royal Mail is said to be ready to act. Sources said it expects that serving notice would prompt legal action from the CWU and is working with advisers from DAC Beachcroft on its potential response."
Management are streets ahead of CWU, and look to be in a strong position to legally ditch the agreement with the CWU.
Meanwhile Dave Ward said:"Royal Mail wants to change the whole basis of what the company is about. The board's proposals will turn it into just another parcel courier – they are about abandoning the universal service obligation and making as much profit as possible.
We think they are taking liberties, not just with our members but also the public, and that is why we are taking strike action."
So, a "we think" approach? Dave, it's about time you knew something, that's the least your members deserve.
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