News

UNI Post & Logistics' affiliate the Communication Workers Union launched a new campaign today to defend postal services and the rights of postal workers in Great Britain. Following privatisation of the Royal Mail in 2013, CWU members have been threatened by unfair competition and a Conservative government intent on eroding univeral postal services. The campaign, launched today at an event at Westminster, rests on six pillars to ensure all Britons have access to quality postal services and that postal workers do not fall victim to a race to the bottom for terms and conditions in the sector. As the CWU campaign material notes, "The ownership of Royal Mail may have changed but it always has been, and must remain, the People's Post."

The People's Post initiative seeks an amendment to the Postal Services Act to ensure the USO is maintained and to prohibit unfair cherry-picking of profitable areas by competitors. The CWU is also seeking to ensure Fair Employment Standards across the wider sector, where workers in parcels market in particular are subject to bottom-basement conditions. The union is calling for a maintenance of the government stake in Royal Mail and the establishment of a Workers Trust to give Royal Mail members with shares in the company a collective voice inside Royal Mail.

UNI Head of Post and Logistics Stephen DeMatteo applauded the CWU for its new campaign: "UNI will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the CWU to see the success of this effort. Across Europe and indeed around the world, governments are taking aim at universal postal services. Workers and the public are the first to pay the price. CWU is a taking a stand for its members to say enough is enough."

For more information on the CWU's campaign, see their website here.