Unions pull out of Post Office Mutualisation

THE CWU and Unite – the two unions representing 7,000 Post Office staff and managers – have jointly decided to pull out of the company’s ‘public engagement’ exercise which is being launched today (Friday).

 

CWU is in a six-month long dispute with the company over plans to close and/or franchise 75 Crown Post Offices, cut 1,500 jobs and impose a three-year pay freeze. On top of this, the Post Office is attempting to significantly cut our members’ pension entitlements.

Staff have taken 11 rounds of strike action in this dispute to date, voting by 88% in favour of strike action and by 90% in favour of action short of strike.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: 

'It’s impossible for us to continue being involved in this engagement exercise when the company refuses to listen to the concerns of its own staff. Our members have taken an incredible 11 rounds of strike action in defence of their jobs, services and pay, yet the company has so far refused to budge, choosing instead to spend tens of thousands of pounds on sending managers out to try to cover strike days. And these same managers are now being balloted for strike action in a separate ballot.  The public engagement exercise is an expensive political exercise in preparation for mutualising the Post Office. We don’t believe you can have a successful mutual organisation which refuses to listen to and engage with its staff on the core issues of jobs and services and we cannot be sincere in any continued activity until our dispute is resolved. The timing is unfortunate, but it is not our timetable – it is the Post Office’s.  We have been urging the resolution of this dispute for months and have many suggestions on how to make progress. In the meantime we will be encouraging our members not to take part in this engagement exercise.'

 

CWU and Unite have written to Jo Swinson, Minister for Post Offices, to inform her of the unions’ position.  The CWU has been involved in the preparation stages of the public engagement exercise by contributing to a Stakeholder Forum which includes various other organisations. The CWU and Unite together represent employees at the company.