Senior reps meeting in Bournemouth this week will be told how significant the new national agreement is. They will be reminded that Royal Mail wanted to impose its own vision of the future without the union.
Our strikes did force Royal Mail to make some concessions, both on our conditions and the role of the union.
The deal apparently commits Royal Mail to accepting the “full involvement” of the CWU in the “process of transformation”. This is not nearly enough.
CWU involvement should mean that Royal Mail is forced to negotiate over the details. This is why we went on strike.
There is no binding commitment on the company to agree procedures or duty planning tools, crucial to any revisions of working practices.
All we see is talk of “involving” the CWU “through national consultation”.
Nowhere does it say these guidelines have to be agreed.
And, worryingly, no one seems to be talking about the 12,000 jobs that are going to go in the mail centres.
After weeks of strike action and months spent in negotiations, many members will be disappointed.
The weakness of the agreement shows we were wrong to call off our action before Christmas when we had the company on the ropes.
To safeguard jobs and conditions, we should campaign for a vote against the deal.
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