News

On the 19^th December thousands of CWU Members in the North West will be withdrawing their labour in defence of their jobs. There will be 24 hour stoppages in Bolton, Crewe, Liverpool and Stockport.



This action follows Royal Mails decision to close five Mail Centres across the North West. Mail Centres in Liverpool and Crewe are set to close with the work redirected through a new centre in Warrington.



The Mail Centres in Stockport and Oldham and Bolton are due to close with the operation from the 3 sites moving into the existing sites in Manchester and Preston.



The CWU believes that Royal Mail’s plans have been drawn up without any real joined up thinking about how the changes will affect the rest of the network. These changes will see a decline in the Quality of Service we provide to our customers with later deliveries, fewer and earlier collections. Furthermore Royal Mail’s actions pose a real threat to hundreds of CWU members’ jobs.



CWU says "The decision taken by Royal Mail fails to recognise the real concern members have for their livelihoods, particularly as we enter a nationwide recession. The impact on local economies will also be devastating for some of these towns and cities”.



The CWU nationally have been attempting for months to get into meaningful talks with Royal Mail to see if there is an agreement that can be reached that recognises the commercial benefits and service improvements these changes will bring to the company, but also recognises the impact these proposals will have on their members livelihoods, the local economies, businesses and the general public.



Royal Mail has steadfastly refused to abide by existing national agreements, which were agreed after the last bout of industrial action.



Regrettably, it was not until the CWU were forced to ballot its members that Royal Mail agreed to meet the union nationally, though Royal Mail still refuse to move away from their policy of imposition.



In fact the union were left with no alternative to take this action as some managers attempted to move the work out of some of the offices listed for closure before Christmas.



It is this aggressive action that has led to the unfortunate timing of the action called by the CWU. Of course we would have preferred for it not to have happened, but management action and legislation have forced our hand. The industrial action could still be avoided if Royal Mail abandoned their policy of imposition and entered into meaningful negotiations with the union nationally, so that an sensible agreement can be reached that protects the service we provide to the public but also takes into consideration Royal Mail’s employees concerns.