LIVES HURTS 1001 ЧНТ MAY By a UCW member AFTER POSTAL workers' emphatic rejection of the 'processing productivity scheme and 'delivery remuneration packages' last year, Royal Mail management are now having another go.
The recent 4-1 vote to accept the 1.5 percent pay limit has given them confidence to increase attacks on the worktorce and attempt to further marginalise the UCW.
If they are successful in introducing productivity agreements for Delivery, Processing and Distribution, they will attempt to further restructure the workforce around the concept of 'teamworking'.
Millions have been spent restructuring management and investing in new technology.
They have made direct approaches to workers using focus groups, questionnaires and bulletins in an attempt to break the UCW's support.
But to inflict a decisive defeat, they have to go much further. This is now on the agenda.
The misnamed productivity agreement 'Sharing in Royal Mail's success' would sell tens of thousands of jobs and increase the use of part-time or casual labour while relying on a core workforce encouraged by bonus payments, to sell more jobs to increase those bonus payments.
This year underlying discontent on pay was shown in a number of significant minorities in the unions in favour of industrial action. The more unions are wedded to productivity, the more difficult it will be for them UCW leader Tuffin to build an effective alliance to defeat the wage freeze.
Royal Mail's agenda for job destruction needs to be decisively rejected. Instead the UCW should put forward the agenda for job creation by pursuing the shorter working week.
Despite policy passed at the last annual conference and reinforced by the special conference only the bare minimum has been The executive needs to be in no doubt members want to see the campaign pushed to the top of the agenda not relegated to some distant aim in the future when the damage has already been done.