Royal Mail have notified the CWU that, unless they cancel the strike action scheduled for the 19th of October and attend mediation, they will apply to the High Court for an injunction to block the post strikes.
Royal Mail have previously said that the post strikes would be unlawful under the Agenda for Growth agreement signed by both parties in 2013 when Royal Mail was privatised. The agreement sets out the requirement for mediation in any disputes before industrial action takes place.
The CWU however suggest that mediation has already taken place. They also point out that the strike ballot is only valid for six months and long delays would result in them having to re-ballot members. The CWU aren’t of a mood to mess around and delay industrial action and want workers to walk out sooner rather than later which will of course leave plenty of time for further strike action.
Popping off to the High Court may delay strike action, which is crucial to stem the inevitable flow of businesses who are likely already considering alternatives, but will infuriate the CWU who will doubtless be even more determined to go ahead with disruption at the earliest possible date.
Hopefully by Monday afternoon we’ll have a clearer idea if the scheduled walkout will go ahead on the 19th – 21st October. If it does, do you have alternative plans in place for your business?
Royal Mail’s Statement in full
Royal Mail has written to CWU invoking the legally-binding external mediation process under the dispute resolution procedures in the Agenda for Growth. Royal Mail requested that CWU withdraw its notification of industrial action and commit to following the dispute resolution procedures. If CWU does not withdraw its notice of strike action by 12 noon Monday 9 October, Royal Mail will lodge an application with the High Court for an injunction to prevent industrial action.
As previously stated, we believe any strike action before the dispute resolution procedures have been followed would be unlawful strike action. Royal Mail notes that, in a ballot in 2014 on all the provisions of the Agenda for Growth agreement including the dispute resolution procedures, 94.5% of CWU members that cast their votes voted Yes.
Contrary to the CWU’s claim in its recent press release, external mediation as set out in the Agenda for Growth agreement has not yet taken place. A clear mechanism for instituting these procedures is set out in writing in the Agenda for Growth. It includes: a) Formal notice of a referral to external mediation from one party to the other; b) The appointment of an external mediator through the mutually agreed process and; c) A comprehensive mediation process which includes the mediator preparing a detailed report, including recommendations for both parties. None of these processes have happened yet.
4 Responses
There are various ways to combat the CWU’s postal terrorism.
There are courriers out there who will accept letters / large letters boxed up. Go online through sites like parcels2go and find out what’s available in your area.
Obviously, letter items will still have to be delivered by Royal Mail for the final mile, but at least it minimises any delay at sorting centres and bypasses any backlog. The only delay will be on days they’re not actually delivering.
Ebay sellers need to see immediate protection from Ebay for late delivery, which must be suspended until things are resolved.
It’s also worth lobbying your MP to push to break Royal Mail’s stranglehold on letters / small packets, to ensure this kind of thing can’t ever happen again.
If you send larger items, you already have plenty of (better) alternatives to Royal Mail, so I don’t see why that shouldn’t now be extended to senders of smaller items.
Why should Royal Mail, as a private company, continue to receive market protection, which is unfair on other carriers, who will be delivering 24/7 until Xmas this year?
Shep – they could. If people chose the competition to deliver it.
That’s the thing though, its senders choice.
TNT Tried delivering letters, where are they now!
RM are just asset stripping, shrinking the Business along with the service and once all its money has been taken by the board and shareholders they will offload it as a broken money poor model and move on.
Customers and staff don’t feature I’m afraid.
Capitalism is indeed corrupted by the greed of the few, We need another work / life balance solution ours is broken.
I pity the young people today, my working life is 36 years in with still 15 to go and I’ve had enough of everyone’s selfish, greedy, mind set with no care for anything or anyone, so long as the individual self is alright.
Lets hope we can all learn to help each other again, one day.