As a direct result of that fight Royal Mail have introduced tactics which breach all major national agreements that are in place including the MTSF agreement which deals with change.

The transfer of work from Stoke to Wolverhampton is due to take place in early
September. Management’s response has been;

No agreement sought to move the work – this is purely consultative
No exploration of members staying in Stoke through ‘bumping’ exercises as outlined in the
MTSF agreement
Only 18 full time jobs left in Stoke – all other Jobs are to go to Wolverhampton Mail Centre
The journey between Stoke and Wolves is an 80mile round trip
All workers have refused preference exercise, so all have been ‘placed’ on jobs—those jobs take no account of current working shifts and/or patters and include Tuesday to Saturday late shift (tue-fri 12.00 – 8.00pm, sat 11.00am – 7.00pm)
Workers told if they do not take up the offer on transfer then they will get ‘Voluntary’ redundancy
Professional Drivers told if they do not accept transfer they will be ‘sacking themselves’.
All appeals against placements to be heard by 14 HR managers from Royal Mail – no CWU
involvement

A national battle

The fight taking place in Stoke is a fight to protect a national agreement on how Royal Mail deals with change.

If they get away with in Stoke, then the bandwagon will keep on rolling, unit by unit and another national agreement will be lost.

Please circulate this information – let your members know how Royal Mail intends to manage change in the future —send messages of support and any donations to either the Midlands Region or Midland No 7 Branch.

This is a battle for the future of the CWU—in Stoke—in the Midlands—in Britain.

Lee Barron - Midlands Regional Secretary

What you can do
Send messages of support to
midlandregion AT cwu.org
You can also contact the branch
direct: Midland No 7 Branch, CWU
Union Room, Lindsay Street, Hanley,
Stoke on Trent, ST1 4EP. Phone
01782 285833/272682. Fax 01782
272978. Email: branch.secretary AT
cwumid7.org.uk
Visit the picket line at Leek Road in
Stoke
Invite a speaker from Stoke to your
branch/workplace

This leaflet is from Post Worker, a paper produced by rank and file postal workers across Britain. It represents a broad range of views and is designed to stimulate debate as well as encourage active participation in the CWU. Send your articles and pictures to postworker AT phonecoop.coop or phone 07871
927008 or write to PostWorker c/o 109 Evelyn Court, Amhurst Road, London E8 2BQ.