The 15th of August deadline that the CWU gave Royal Mail to make significant progress on talks is today. Failure to make progress by today was the trigger the Union said would see them set out a timetable for potential strike action.
Whilst I’ve not yet seen any announcement from either the Royal Mail nor the CWU, it’s not accident that the Union announced today that they are sending every postal worker in the Union a ‘Time to Pick Sides‘ leaflet which will be delivered to their home addresses this week.
The leaflet makes no mention of strikes, but the title is quite pointed so there’s not much need to read between the lines. They say that the information is “to dispel the myths and misinformation spread by Royal Mail Group management to justify their current proposals, which pose a serious threat to your future job, pay and pensions security“.
They go on to accuse the Royal Mail of “increasing their propaganda” via Royal Mails Weekly 30 minutes’ Work Time Listening and Learning sessions, The Courier and even workers PDAs, “telling you that you are on the best pay, pensions and terms & conditions. However, what they are failing to tell you is that their proposals will significantly worsen all of those benefits in some form or fashion“.
The leaflet then goes on to lay out the CWU’s ‘Four Pillars’ which are: A pension solution for all; a shorter working week; extending legal protections; and a redesigned operational pipeline.
Telling workers that it’s ‘Time to Pick Sides’ can only mean that one thing and that is that the Union are serious in their promise to schedule strike action. Here at Tamebay we’re hoping that Royal Mail and the CWU can still reach an agreement that works for both parties and for the 10s of 1000s of Royal Mail workers. In the long term a strike will be damaging for all concerned.
2 Responses
The worrying thing is , will people actually vote for strike given the time of year . I think Royal Mail are hoping employees will bottle it , if so we are finished