2007 Royal Mail industrial disputes - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2007 Royal Mail industrial disputes were a series of industrial disputes between Royal Mail

Royal Mail

Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...

and the Communication Workers Union

Communication Workers Union (UK)

The Communication Workers Union is the main trade union in the United Kingdom for people working for telephone, cable, DSL and postal delivery companies, with 215,000 members....

in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Background

The dispute centred around 'modernisation plans' which Royal Mail said were required to remain competitive, however the CWU believed that these might have led to around 40,000 job losses. Additionally there were disputes surrounding flexible working hours, pay rises and pension

Pension

In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...

Royal Mail position

Royal Mail claimed that flexibility is vital to the business, and that it was entirely reasonable for employees normally employed in one capacity to cover other roles as required to cope with variations in the work levels in each area. The company was also adamant that increased automation (and fewer employees) were necessary to bring costs under control. The unions were accused of retaining numerous Spanish practices

Spanish practices

The terms Spanish practices or old Spanish customs are United Kingdom expressions that refer to irregular or restrictive practices in workers' interests. Typically, these are arrangements that have been negotiated in the past between employers and unions....

which prevent flexible working.

CWU position

The CWU accused Royal Mail of treating its employees as slaves, and regarded a level of flexibility which would have seen employees doing different jobs on a daily basis as unacceptable.

Government position

The CWU called on the government to "intervene in a positive way". Until early October, the government maintained its stance that this was a matter for Royal Mail and the union to sort out. However, in early October Gordon Brown called on the CWU to reach an agreement on the terms offered, a move that was condemned by the TUC.

Public view

Public opinion was divided, with some strongly in support of the Postal Workers, and others condemning the disruption caused by the strikes.

Strike dates

29 June 2007 - First strike
12–13 July 2007 - Second set of strikes
4–5 October 2007 - Business-wide CWU strike
8–9 October 2007 - Business-wide CWU strike
10–11 October 2007 - All CWU union members return to work, however wildcat strikes continue in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Key events

On 7 June 2007 the union's postal members voted by 77.5% in favour of industrial action after a 2.5% pay rise coupled with £350million every year for five years (totaling £1.5 billion) of cuts was offered.
They took their first one day strike on Friday 29th of June 2007, and the second on 12th/13th of July.
- The action then progressed to a series of rolling strikes designed to cause as much disruption as possible.
On the 9th of August strikes were called off when Royal Mail chairman Alan Leighton and CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes began secret talks. .*These negotiations failed and industrial action began again at 12PM on 5 October.
- This time two national strikes of 48 hours were called.
- These took place on Friday 5th and Saturday 6 October, and then Monday 8th and Tuesday 9 October.
- In between these dates was a Sunday so no deliveries took place between the Friday and Tuesday, but resumed on Wednesday with a large backlog of undelivered mail.
On the 6th of October 2007 a march of over 100 postal workers supported by local groups of TUC members, a pensioners group against Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

closures and the local branch of the Socialist Party of England and Wales took place in Stoke on Trent, stretching 2 miles from Burslem to Hanley. A rally at the end featured many speakers including local CWU
CWU
The abbreviation CWU may refer to:*Cameroon Welfare Union*Central Washington University*Church Women United*One of several Communication Workers' Unions, including:**Communication Workers Union...

vice branch secretary, Mick Pender, and Socialist Party member Andy Bentley.
On 12 October, Royal Mail challenged the legality of the next phase of the planned action, claiming that the notice of the strike had been improperly issued.
24 hour strikes were planned for;
- Monday 15 October from 6pm at Mail sorting offices and airports
- Tuesday 16 October from 3am at Deliveries and collection hubs
- Wednesday 17 October from midday for Royal Mail drivers
- Thursday 18 October from midday for Manual data entry centres
- Thursday 18 October from 2pm at Heathrow world distribution centre.
In late afternoon 12 October, Royal Mail succeeded in obtaining an injunction at London's High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...

banning the scheduled strikes starting on 15th and 16 October. The union responded by issuing a suspension of the strikes. In addition, the planned actions in Airports and Separate Collection Hubs were withdrawn because of the small numbers involved.
On the evening of 12 October, Royal Mail and the CWU reached an agreement which was to be discussed by the union executive on 15–16 October, and if recommended by the union executive, put to members in a postal ballot.

Local issues

Industrial action took place in Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...

(Stoke on Trent) following the suspension of postal worker, Dave Condliffe, in relation to allegations of aggressive behaviour towards two managers. Wildcat strikes took place earlier in the year with support from the local branch of the Socialist Party of England and Wales.
On the 10th of October CWU members in London and Liverpool started an unofficial strike in response to changes in flexible working that meant they would have to start at 6am and finish not before 2.15pm. It was reported that all of South West London is out, East London, Peterbrough, Walsall and Manchester also were involved in unofficial action.
On the 12th of October, staff in Edinburgh and Grangemouth walked out in unofficial action in reaction to Royal Mail's decision to deduct pay for both the previous weeks walkout and that weeks walkout from a single pay packet

Royal Mail response

Royal Mail drafted in managers from non-operational roles to attempt to keep some mail moving through the system, and offered opportunities for those CWU members who wish to work to do so at other offices to avoid conflict with striking colleagues, but the strike still had a major impact on the operation.