Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/313/11653
From The Socialist newspaper, 6 September 2003
Royal Mail's spin doctor
WE'RE GETTING stuff from management around every day now. Some of it is to our home addresses from "Alboy" Leighton. He's a spin doctor. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had got Alastair Campbell's job.
A London postal worker
The CWU wants a reduction in hours. Instead, Royal Mail want us to lose jobs.
In most mail centres this is a 10% cut in wages costs. Alboy has been plugging voluntary redundancy for some time and an extremely complicated formula based on age and length of service offers up to two years pay.
But it seems that not as many volunteers for redundancy have come forward as management expected.
Part of the background to the dispute is the way the union weakened itself, by not standing up to the employer. It supported "commercial freedom" but this meant not freedom to pay us more money but freedom to buy up lame duck companies around the world.
We have accepted a series of low-pay offers.
To cap it all, the union accepted Address Interpretation. This meant that "coders", who were mostly paid more than the basic rate as former PHGs (Postmen Higher Grade), were replaced by staff at Data Input Centres and paid less than the basic rate, and these low paid workers are being offered only the 3%.
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In The Socialist 6 September 2003:
Teach Blair A Lesson Build a new workers' party
Fight low pay, job cuts and privatisation in Royal Mail
Stop SATs: Unions must take action
Asylum seekers: Blunkett's harsh policies ignore reality
Understanding Marxism - a guide to action
Will new IVF proposals end the postcode lottery?
London blackout: Chaos shows up failure to invest
TUC conference: Opportunities for the Left
Civil service union challenges New Labour's pension pans
Are the unions on a collision course with Blair and the bosses?
Israel/Palestine: Ceasefire collapses as Sharon targets Palestinian leaders
Italy - a 'hot autumn' awaits Berlusconi
Build a movement against the occupation of Iraq
Iraq: Can the occupation be stopped?
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