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Putting an end to the postal strikes

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Lucy Phillips

3 Nov 2009 | 08:14

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I asked CIPD employee relations adviser Mike Emmott the million-dollar question in an interview last week – how will the long-running dispute between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) end? “Like all disputes it will be resolved, but management can’t afford to lower the flag on the modernisation agenda because that is the only way the business will survive in a very competitive environment,” he said.

Undoubtedly, Royal Mail’s days are numbered if there is no change in the situation, but there is also another incentive for brokering a deal before too long. With privatisation and new legislation to curb industrial action in “essential services” on the cards with a Tory government, the future of the postal service looks even rockier – and the union’s influence only set to diminish.

Don’t think that I’m without sympathy for the postal workers. Last week I met some CWU members on the picket line outside Mount Pleasant in London and, from speaking to them, gathered the situation has been so badly managed that ultimately they were given no choice but to strike. But some sort of acquiescence from the union now could be less painful than anything further down the road – and perhaps also add to its bargaining power over future, even bigger issues.

At the moment, some businesses and individuals could still be won back. I received a press release the other day from a firm congratulating itself for staying loyal to Royal Mail (while apologising to customers who had not received their deliveries). Think of the outcry every time a post office is threatened with closure. There’s something that makes people sympathise with our postal service, but patience is running out. Royal Mail must be made fit to compete and the union should quit while it’s ahead.

Comments

1. At 12:40 on 05 Nov 2009, Geoffrey Hirst wrote:

One of the sad things in all this is that in some parts of the country e.g. where I live, the 2007 deal had already largely been implemented, so employee relations can't be so bad everywhere - & post was delivered here last Saturday, a strike day.
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The UK may draw comfort from having lower measured unemployment than the EU average but in truth we are no better than a mid-table performer

John Philpott, CIPD’s chief economic adviser