Festive denial is rubbished
Oct 19 2009 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette
POSTAL workers in the Tees Valley have dismissed Royal Mail’s claims a 30,000-strong recruitment blitz was not designed to break the union as "rubbish".
Royal Mail operations director Paul Tolhurst said the temporary workers - around twice the normal amount taken on this time of year - were needed to “keep the mail moving” and avoid a big backlog building up.
However Tees Valley Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) members have reacted with disgust - and confirmed there will be a strike this Friday if a resolution is not reached.
Pete Sansum, area delivery representative for the CWU, said the massive recruitment drive would only inflame the situation.
“If Royal Mail wants to reach an agreement, they should be sitting down and talking - but they are doing totally the opposite.
“Why aren’t they having an independent investigation into working standards?
“We want to protect the public service we provide, which Royal Mail don’t seem to be bothered about. Nowhere else can you find a service for 39p.
“It doesn’t look like they are going to come through.”
Apologising to the public for Friday’s planned strike action, Mr Sansum said: “The majority of people understand what we are doing, but it’s not something that we want to do.
“It isn’t right for management to use the economic crisis as a way to justify bullying people.”
Royal Mail bosses are to meet the CWU at an undisclosed location later in a bid to break the deadlock.
Relations between the two sides became increasingly fractious over the weekend when the company announced the hiring plans. Union leaders responded by considering a legal challenge to the move.
Mr Tolhurst said: “We are not trying to break the union. We recognise the CWU has a vital role to play. But the most important thing for us is to keep the mail moving. We are still talking, but it is a very complicated set of negotiations.
“We are trying to find a way forward.”
TNT has also confirmed it is prepared to step in by offering an expanded door-to-door delivery service.
