Postal workers have voted overwhelmingly to accept a deal reached in talks with Royal Mail covering pay, pensions and working conditions. Members of the CWU voted by a margin of 9 to 1 in favour of the deal.
Royal Mail welcomes CWU ballot result
“Royal Mail is pleased that members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the agreement in principle on pensions, pay, a shorter working week, culture and operational changes.
On 1 February 2018 the Company announced that it had reached agreement in principle with the CWU. The union recommended that members vote in favour of the agreement during the ballot.”
This puts an end to any threat of strikes for postal workers for the foreseeable future. The CWU say that they are committed to work with Royal Mail to improve industrial relations, deliver better services and products for customers and safeguard the six day Universal Service Obligation to secure the future of the company. Naturally the CWU are also hailing this as a victory although in truth they gave way on many fronts and Royal Mail were also coerced into bending a little by the Independent Mediator.
“The massive vote in favour of the deal reflects the strong degree of membership support for the Union’s Four Pillars and Pay campaign which has delivered real improvements to our members’ employment and retirement security. The support has delivered a progressive agenda which confronts the challenges of our time and significantly improves our members’ pay, working hours and workplace culture, both for current and the future generation of postal workers. The Agreement also extends the legally binding protections which gives postal workers confidence that the Royal Mail Group will not be broken up and that protecting the six day Universal Service Obligation (USO) remains a priority.”
– Terry Pullinger, Deputy General Secretary (Postal) of the CWU
The CWU also said that this dispute saw the union reach new levels in terms of engaging our members and smashing the Anti-Trade Union industrial action laws. They did an impressive job over a prolonged period of time, rallying the Postal Workers and setting out their stall, and the only time they were stymied was when Royal Mail went to court and got a stay of execution as mediation hadn’t taken place. At the time the CWU claimed that they had been in mediation for months, but the courts insisted an independent mediator be appointed in accordance with previous agreements between the Union and Royal Mail.
In today’s rather stringent situation for Trade Unions under the Trade Union Act 2016 it has become much harder for a Union to win a vote for industrial actions. Whether you agree with them or not, you can’t help but admire the manner in which the CWU ran their campaign it’s likely to be at least years into the future when they attempt another Postal Strike ballot.
4 Responses
This proves that unions still have the power to stand up to the bullying tactics of big companies,and to look after their worker,s rights.NEVER underestimate working people in fighting for their livelihoods.good work CWU.
@ “bullying tactics” lol.
have you ever employed staff?
Sometimes you got to try and make a profit in spite of the staff.
Give it another decade or two and unions will have all but disappeared.
It is the unions who bully the employer (and SME) to try and get their own way – not the other way around.
@Alan
Where do you take this conspiracy theory of unions trying to get their own way from?
The way the union wants things to go is *spoiler alert* for the workers. What is good for workers? A stable and successful company to work for, good working standards and good pay.
Afterall, effective unions cannot exist without workers in employment so that they can pay the fees.
I would also say you’re wrong about unions going out of existence in a couple of years, we have seen the resurgence of union power in the workplace recently. As huge companies start to employ massive amounts of staff, these staff will need representing.