New Page 2

The Communications Union Undeb y Cyfathrebu

Wales & the Marches Cymru a'r Gororau

Postal Section

GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF COMPETITION – THE HOOPER REPORT

The Postal Executive recognises that the delay in publishing the Hooper Report is not at all helpful and is causing understandable frustration across the Union .

We contacted the Review Team and were advised that although the report had taken longer to finalise than originally anticipated, the final decision on publication rests with Government. This was also confirmed to us in a meeting with Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business.

During the same meeting Lord Mandelson told us he may consider extending the remit of the Report if it did not provide solutions to the key problems facing Royal Mail. He said that in his view the main problems were the growing pension crisis and market decline. He further stated that Government did accept they had a responsibility to resolve the pension deficit - but that in their view this could only be achieved through the injection of some form of private equity.

The Union responded by saying we intended to hold Government to account on pensions – including reversing the company’s imposed pension reforms – but that we could not support any form of privatisation. We reminded Lord Mandelson of the policy endorsed at Labour Party Conference, which is to maintain the Royal Mail Group as an integrated and wholly publicly owned company.

We also reminded Lord Mandelson that it was the Government’s decision to introduce unfair competition, earlier than the rest of Europe , which has been instrumental in creating financial instability, placing the USO at risk and led to Royal Mail running down services and attacking Postal Workers’ terms and conditions.

It is a fact that whatever the outcome of the Hooper Report, Government will determine when or if it is published and what policies are implemented.

In light of all the aforementioned developments the Postal Executive believe it is virtually impossible to move forward our key policies without political intervention and the Union being involved in a process of direct talks with Government.

We also believe we cannot allow Government drift to continue and that we must take decisive action to bring the position with Government to a head.

Therefore, the Postal Executive has unanimously agreed that the overriding priority in the campaign is to immediately achieve a process of direct and meaningful dialogue with Government.

We have written to Lord Mandelson and Pat McFadden requesting that talks now take place immediately. The Postal Executive is very aware of how the issues reported above place a severe strain on our future relationship with the Labour Party. In order to ensure negotiations commence we are writing to the Chair of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman.

On December 9^th we have arranged a Parliamentary Briefing of Labour MP’s on all the issues. We are also continuing to co-ordinate with UNITE the Union , a meeting has been arranged with Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley on November 27^th.

We will advise you of further developments in due course.

DISCLAIMER:- This web site has been put together by the CWU Wales & the Marches Regional Committee to provide you with a wealth of knowledge and information on Union activities, politics and local information. The views and comments that are found on this web site are not necessarily the views of the Region or the National Executive. Please feel free to E-Mail us with your views and comments