Bridgwater Royal Mail Postal Strike

 From Bridgwater Trades Union Council:

100 postman and women at Bridgwater Royal Mail Delivery Office walked out on unofficial strike this morning.

The CWU members are angry that Royal Mail are using the Covid 19 crisis as a screen to attack the strong trade union organisation at the Friarn St office.

Specific grievances are:

1. A manager who has previously twice been removed from Bridgwater DO has been put back in charge.Staff believe this manager's aggressive and anti-union behaviour make him the worst possible choice, when they just want the support of managers to get out and deliver letters and packets to local people as best they can, with many staff on self-isolation and/or sick, and working with, and supporting, some inexperienced casuals.  

2. Staff have been threatened with disciplinary action for "Wilful delay of the mail", which could lead to dismissal, when all they have done is work to their contracted finishing time.

3. Union activists have been followed around the building by managers who have tried to prevent them talking to members at work. 

4. Royal Mail have given notice they wish to rip up all current local agreements with the CWU-agreements that give local postman and women some of the best conditions in the country.

5. The current manager has deliberately tried to provoke trouble by removing the majority of cycles from the office-Bridgwater is the last office in the UK to use them.

The action this morning was supported by 100% of the union members at Bridgwater-a workplace where 99.7% of postman and women are union members

They have taken this action as a last resort-Royal Mail must now re-consider their whole management strategy at Bridgwater and appoint managers who are prepared to work with the union, not try and destroy it.

At 12.30pm this afternoon CWU members voted to go home for the rest of the day.

The strike will now go into its second day.

Senior CWU Officials are now involved to try and resolve this serious situation."

Further info Dave Chapple, Bridgwater Trades Union Council  on 07707869144

**********************************

ROYAL MAIL: "profits before safety"

ROYAL Mail is putting "profits before safety" say postal workers, who claim the company is failing to protect them from the risk of catching coronavirus.

There is a shortage of gloves, masks and hand sanitiser, employees from across the UK have told the BBC.

They also claim social distancing at work is "almost impossible".

Royal Mail says it has invested £15m in protective equipment and that the health and well-being of staff is their top priority.

Over the last two weeks, staff at eight Royal Mail sites, including three in Scotland, have walked out over safety concerns.  The BBC has seen footage of employees working shoulder-to-shoulder in one sorting office, with limited social distancing measures in place.

A supervisor based in the north of England said:  "It's more than two weeks since the lockdown and we're in a situation where there is still a lack of PPE [personal protective equipment], there's still a lack of sanitisers, there is still a lack of direction."

He said staff feel as though they are "forced to choose between their jobs and their health".

"I'm scared that my job will be in danger if I refuse to do a task because I believe it puts me in an unsafe position," he added.

https://www.bbc.co.uk › news › business-52243179

**********************************

Industrial Action at Accrington Delivery Office

 LTB 740/16 - ACCRINGTON DELIVERY OFFICE – INDUSTRIAL ACTION

No. 740/2016

19 December 2016

ACCRINGTON DELIVERY OFFICE – INDUSTRIAL ACTION

Dear Colleagues,

Branches will wish to be aware that CWU members at Accrington Delivery Office took a second day of strike action on Saturday 17^th December as a result of the failure of Royal Mail to implement a joint CWU/Royal Mail recommendation from a Flashpoint report published on 24^th August relating to aggressive and bullying management of the office.

Last Saturday’s action followed a one day strike on Saturday 10^th December and if the issue remains unresolved will be followed by further one day strikes on 23^rd and 31^st December.

The dispute raises a number of serious issues:

• Disregard of the welfare of employees. Royal Mail has abrogated its duty of care to employees by failure to address management behaviours far outside the standards the company says it expects from all employees.  
• Disregard of its agreements with CWU. Royal Mail is acting in breach of the Agenda for Growth Agreement by failure amounting to refusal to implement a joint recommendation made through the Flashpoint Procedure – which is designed to avoid industrial action. 
• Disregard of its duty to customers. 85 managers have been deployed in Accrington on the last two Saturdays to undertake the work of striking delivery staff but customer service was still disrupted by Royal Mail’s refusal to implement the agreed recommendation of the Flashpoint report.

 I am sure Branches, Representatives and members will wish to send messages of support to members in Accrington who are standing up to bullying and harassment. In addition, members are facing loss of 4 days earnings over the holiday period.

Messages of support should be sent to:

Martin Berry, Branch Secretary, East Lancs Amal Branch, Union Room, Delivery Office, Bank Parade,

Burnley, Lancs. BB11 1DY

Tel:     07800 794221

Email: cwueastlancsamal@gmail.com

Donations should be sent clearly marked “Accrington DO Dispute” to the following account:

Bank:                              Unity Trust 

Name of Account:           CWU North West Regional Fund

Acc No:                           33954055

Sort Code:                      608301 

All enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference 412.

Yours sincerely, 

 

RAY ELLIS

ASSISTANT SECRETARY

Email Attachments - Click to download

• LTB 740/16 - Accrington Delivery Office - Industrial Action