Royal Mail/CWU Agreement 2010 – What’s In It and How Does It Affect You?

6.9% Pay Rise Over Three Years? (2010 2%,2011 1.4%, 2012 3.5%)
However, the 3.5% in 2012 is not guaranteed the Agreement gives Royal Mail “..flexibility to reopen this element..in response to unforeseen events..”. Also if you work in an Office which closes and merges with another and you are on more money than another group of OPGs (e.g. RRIS money) then you will only get the 2% in 2010 and then be on ‘marked time’ for however many years it takes for the other OPGs to catch up with your pay!

£400 to “vote yes”. You don’t have to be pressured to vote for this money – you are going to get it in June anyway as a ColleagueShare payment!


£1000 Lump Sum bribes: 2-3 phase payments linked to revisions (cuts in hours/increased workloads) and dependent on deployment of walk sequencing machines – What happens if you don’t qualify for the payments, will you still be paid them?

Deliveries: A non-pensionable pay supplement of £20.60 a week. But at the expense of payment for individual D2D items and abolishing the cap restricting D2D items to 3 per week (so heavier workloads for potentially less pay) and ending the current early shift allowance. Threat of more full-time jobs going part-time. More “flexibility”-no set maximum delivery time span.

Processing, Collection Hubs and MDECS: One off £75 and then £8 weekly non-pensionable pay supplement. This is not all new money as some comes from funds already earned from existing productivity scheme funds (PBS/ICS/ESOS).

“Job Security/Managing the Change”?: How many jobs are to go? Not a word. Obviously this a really big issue to postal workers given that thousands of jobs are on the line because of Mail Centre closures/mergers with 3 or 4 Mail Centres going into 1, ending Delivery Conveyance Duties, and increased automation.

The Agreement is full of many nice sound bites like ”Royal Mail and the CWU have an excellent track record in managing major change programmes without recourse to compulsory redundancy” and “ job security commitments contained in the MTSF”. Plus reference to a projected staffing ratio of 75% full-time to 25% part-time to create “ a flexible workforce” (i.e. cheaper).But it also says “The exact ratio will vary locally depending on the current local mix” etc.

But none of this is guaranteed. Why? Because buried in the small print of this 79 page Agreement is the following get-out clause for Royal Mail – “The above-mentioned approach and the amended terms set out below will be subject to ongoing review to ensure the effective management of unresolved surpluses and cost”.

Remember what happened in the Royal Mail/CWU Pension Review? The Final Salary Scheme was deemed to be too much of a “cost” and closed and replaced with and inferior pension scheme by Royal Mail. Both sides, CWU HQ and Royal Mail, whatever slight differences, agreed postal workers were causing a problem – they were living longer!

Also, Royal Mail is launching a major attack on VR terms by cutting back on the pension enhancement under VR. So although Compulsory Redundancy statutory terms are worse if the gradual erosion of VR terms continues then the superiority of VR will become a thing of the past.



“MTSF Amended Terms”?: The trick here is that Royal Mail is cutting some elements while boosting others for what may prove to be only a limited period. This covers VR terms, pension enhancements in EVR/VR and selection criteria, Pay Protection, Excess Travel Expenses, and Relocation.

These temporary, big cash carrots being dangled, are - lifting the cap on VR payments (currently annual pay x2), raising Excess Travel Expenses from 15k to 20k, and payments extended from 3 to 5 years. Plus automatic Relocation money if it equals the average office cost of ETE.

ETE, and Relocation run from 1 April 2010 until 31 March 2013, VR from 1 October 2010 to 31 March 2013 i.e. not guaranteed beyond that date. Pension enhancement is cut permanently from 30 September 2010.


Cutting VR Pension Enhancements: “ Qualifying members aged 55-64 will receive a pension enhancement by way of service credit of 37.5% of their prospective service up to NRA (65)..”

Translated into plain English this means that VR pension enhancements are to be cut from the current maximum of 6 and ¾ years down to a maximum of only 3 ¾ y years. This three year cut means that Royal Mail could be saving around 8k per year per person it does not pay, up to a total of 24k per person. So future pension payments to postal workers will be substantially reduced!

The Proto-Type: Royal Mail originally introduced this cut to VR pension enhancements by executive action towards the end of last year but then retracted it saying it would abide by what was in the new Agreement. At that time it was estimated affected postal workers would have lost about 3k a year off their pension when they claimed it, making it worth 40% less and were given 48 hours to decide on the offer. Just because CWU HQ have now given it the OK does not make it any more palatable for postal workers.

Up to this point Royal Mail have accepted paying the 6 ¾ year enhancement. Subsequently, it could be argued that Royal Mail and CWU HQ in agreeing to cut the VR pension enhancement by 50% for the 55-64 age group are doing so purely on grounds of age. This raises the issue of age discrimination. How can any union justify this?

Ring-Fencing for “Yes” Votes: Workers who’s Mail Centres are already closing/merging will now get the full 6 ¾ year pension enhancement until 30 September 2010.This is clearly aimed at buying the support, the silence, and yes votes from some postal workers and local CWU reps who had previously opposed any cuts to their own pensions under existing closure and merger plans. Where do they stand now?

Given the massive scale of potential job losses, Royal Mail is going to make a mint out of this cut, at the expense of postal workers pensions.

No wonder Royal Mail’s national power-point Work Time Listening and Learning on this Agreement made no mention about this issue. Shamefully, the CWU HQ national letter (“A Summary of the Agreement”) disguises this attack by not spelling out the facts, and just saying “..pension enhancement will be based on 37.5% of maximum potential service”. So both sides, the CWU HQ and Royal Mail, have used identical propaganda to act in alliance against the workers interests.

Some younger workers think this does not affect them. They must be told that by them supporting this cut they are saying goodbye to part of their retirement wages, when you need every penny you get because of the measly weekly state pension.

“Modernisation – A Shared Vision”?: In language reminiscent of a corporate-fascist state the Agreement states “Royal Mail and CWU have developed a shared vision of modernisation. At its core is our renewed commitment to align the interests of our customers, workforce and the company as a whole”.

This means both Royal Mail and CWU HQ pressuring postal workers to stop resisting exploitation and “align” themselves with Management and put the “commercial success” of the company i.e. its profits, above anything else.

Royal Mail and the CWU HQ have a direct material interest in exploiting postal workers’ to provide profits. Vast sums from out of these profits then go to senior management on big pay and massive bonuses, other managers higher pay and bonuses, and on funding perks and privileges of some CWU reps, e.g. permanent release and Divisional reps wages.

Royal Mail’s demand for super profits are to be sacrosanct and unquestioned, whatever lip service is paid to employees well-being, job security, Health and Safety, ‘sensible’ revisions, or the public service ethos etc.

They both, Union HQ and Management, threaten postal workers with dire consequences unless they accept all that Royal Mail desire. The commandment is “..that to secure our future everybody must work together and fully embrace radical change”.

Royal Mail and CWU HQ talk of wanting “..to ensure modernisation brings about..competitive prices..a sound financial footing” i.e. cutting costs.

How? Through “..modernisation that brings about ..A culture of mutual interest that involves managers, the union, and employees working together to achieve and share in success..” i.e. by brainwashing postal workers to accept the removal of any barrier to increasing their own exploitation.

The facts prove that this is all lies. Royal Mail bosses amass vast personal fortunes. CWU HQ and their hangers-on do very well. Postal workers struggle to get by.

There is also guff about Royal Mail being “proud of its social responsibilities” etc.

“Transforming Relationships” A No Strike Deal?: The Agreement refers to “ past adversarial relations and poor employee relations”. In other words differences between the Union and management, which has led to conflict and strikes, and differences between workers and management through open criticism, argument, and acts of opposition including strike action (official and unofficial).

We are told that “ unless there is a radical improvement in relationships at all levels..” i.e. that all this sort of thing stops, “then the business cannot succeed”.

Taken to its logical conclusion this is tantamount to CWU HQ agreeing not to oppose Management in any significant way and declaring that it will not sanction future strike action. Already, some pro-Agreement Union reps are confidently boasting “ There won’t be any more strikes in Royal Mail”.

By CWU HQ offering to assist with this taming of the workforce for Royal Mail the evolution of the CWU HQ into an open arm of Royal Mail Management will be completed.

Pay Off for the CWU?:Royal Mail is offering the CWU, “New strategic involvement forums ..to ensure the CWU can influence and shape key national policies..appropriate shared messages..an appropriate level of agreed release and facilities..”.

Royal Mail is also offering the CWU cash for services rendered. They declare that they will “..support effective industrial relations..underpinned by a professional financial relationship with funding arrangements on a more consistent footing”.

The concept of the Union as an organisation established and funded by the workers solely to fight for their interests is under direct attack by Royal Mail and CWU HQ. This does great damage to the principle of genuine trade unionism as workers see their Union become increasingly compromised and unwilling or incapable of defending their interests. This is of great assistance to Royal Mail.

Royal Mail are now milking the CWU HQ’s surrender policy.

For example, they are refusing to allow the Union its own room in the new South Midlands Mail Centre (created out of the imminent closure and merger of Coventry, Northampton, and Milton Keynes). Management at the same site are also insisting Union Health and Safety reps working to CWU HQ give them in writing, three days notice of any visit.

Certain Union reps are now whingeing that Royal Mail is going back on ‘the Deal’ and they are trying to incite postal workers to oppose Royal Mail and pressure them to end up unthinkingly defending ‘the Deal’. Postal workers need to think very carefully about what is the aim of any such struggle. Is it to defend their right to genuine union representation or are they being used again as cannon fodder to defend the privileges of the Union hierarchy who are so keen to sell out the workers to protect their own positions? This is also a useful way to draw workers away from analysing the content and aims of the latest Agreement.

Dismissing the Opposition: According to reports of Union meetings between local reps and CWU HQ officials all criticism of the Agreement is met with the statement that “This is all there is, there is no plan B” or “ What is your alternative”. This is not good enough. Royal Mail and CWU HQ were engaged in nearly four months of secret negotiations to concoct this Agreement, which is now being presented as a ‘done deal’ or fait accompli. If postal workers or their local reps were to have any meaningful role in this process they would have been consulted at a much earlier stage.

Sabotaging Opposition: For Royal Mail the key thing was always about getting through the Christmas pressure period by offering CWU HQ an Interim Agreement in order to get strikes called off. CWU HQ accepted this as a move to protect their own positions without any regard to the consequences for postal workers. In this way Royal Mail has successfully bought time so that even if the Agreement was voted down it can claim that the impact of strikes would be reduced. This is all being used to pressure postal worker into feeling helpless and to comply and vote Yes.

Charm Offensive – Why?: Normally both Royal Mail and CWU HQ write to all Union members recommending a “Yes” vote. So far this has not happened. They have both written outlining their joint commitment to “business success” but are playing a subtle game, leaving out any reference to the perils contained within the latest Agreement. They seek to appear reasonable and concerned for the plight of postal workers, in order to make them lower their guard, and uncritically vote for a deal which hits them hard. For the first time the CWU is not sending to its members a full copy of the Agreement which they are voting on. All they get is a highly selective summary, which highlights benefits that are cancelled out by the concessions demanded of postal workers in the actual Agreement.

In Conclusion:
This document marks a further blurring of the boundaries between the Union and Management and the end of any real demarcation between the two, whatever minor squabbles they may have.

In fact, the close political association between the CWU elite and New Labour has meant they are implicated in the root cause of Royal Mail’s financial problems – the ending of the postal monopoly in 2003, and the loss of bulk mails revenue to private competition, and the on-going subsidy of private mailers by Royal Mail (All a result of The Postal Services Act which was supported by CWU HQ with only minor criticisms).

CWU HQ has totally bought into the Blairite/Thatcherite impossible dream of capitalism providing for both the rich and the workers. When the reality is that the workers are always made to make concessions to boost the super-profits of the rich. This is because the current Union leaders big pay, pensions, and status is derived from the continued exploitation of postal workers.




LOOK BEYOND THE CASH BRIBES! THINK OF THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THIS AGREEMENT ON YOUSELF AND FELLOW WORKERS!

DON’T BE PRESSURED–VOTE ACCORDING TO YOUR CONSIENCE AND THE DETAIL OF THE AGREEMENT–NOT IN LINE WITH ROYAL MAIL OR CWU HQ SPIN!