Cumbernauld delivery office: How the CWU is enforcing Royal Mail’s USO reform pilots

Underhand methods employed by Communication Workers Union (CWU) officials to impose “USO reform” pilots at 37 delivery units across the UK have been exposed by events at Cumbernauld, one of the targeted sites in Scotland.

The delivery office of around 40 staff is scheduled to become only the second unit to begin implementing the pilot scheme following Newton Mearns (also just outside Glasgow) three weeks ago.

Royal Mail’s pilots are introducing an “Optimised Delivery Model” (ODM) that was agreed by the CWU in December. CWU Deputy General Secretary Martin Walsh signed an “Enablers Letter” in December, headlined: “Working together to create the right platform to introduce USO Reform”.

The pilot scheme is a dress rehearsal for £300 million in cuts and mass job destruction via the dismantling of six-day-a-week letter deliveries to 32 million UK households. The scheme is being overseen by joint working groups of managers and union officials.

Workers at Cumbernauld say they have been included in the USO reform pilots without their consent. They are angered at CWU local and regional officials who have brow-beaten and threatened workers to accept the pilots and Royal Mail’s ODM.

Bureaucratic stitch-up at Cumbernauld

CWU members at Cumbernauld called for a workplace meeting in January after they learnt in December that their office was included in the pilot scheme.

A worker at Cumbernauld told WSWS: “Some of the members demanded a meeting to discuss their concerns. The rep dragged his feet, eventually agreed to hold a meeting at the end of the week, but then changed the proposed date”.

A workplace meeting lobbied for by members was held on Wednesday 22 January. But workers say the CWU workplace rep ensured the meeting was not advertised and the date was only confirmed that morning.

More than twenty postal staff were in attendance. Those who spoke said the new delivery model was “unworkable” and their present duties “unmanageable.”

Tellingly, the CWU workplace rep blocked a motion to boycott the pilot, arguing that workers should address their grievances on an individual basis.

Another worker at Cumbernauld told WSWS: “A colleague proposed a motion to boycott the pilot. He said that Cumbernauld postal workers should not participate in a trial to lead a charge to eliminate jobs, dismantle the USO and increase workloads. His motion called for a no-confidence vote in CWU officials who have signed up to this without the consent of members. This received a seconder.”

Those who were present say the CWU workplace rep suppressed the motion, insisting the meeting could not discuss it or put it to a vote. The rep claimed the motion would lead to his sacking by management!

The same worker said, “The motion put forward what the CWU should be doing if it was really addressing our concerns and standing up for our jobs and the mail service. What’s the point of being in a union if we don’t even have the right to debate or vote on a motion, or oppose attacks on our terms and conditions? Thousands of jobs are on the line across Royal Mail…”

Having blocked the motion, the CWU rep appealed to members that by taking part in the pilot, they could prove it was “unworkable.” He claimed he was in contact with senior CWU officials about this, and that CWU Divisional Rep Tam Dewar, Outdoor Assistant Secretary Tony Bouch and Walsh would be invited to attend a joint union-management briefing about the pilot to be held at Cumbernauld.

That workplace “briefing” was held the following Tuesday, with a display of unity between management and CWU reps.

Another worker who was present told WSWS, “Once again, there was no support [for the pilot], and a couple spoke in opposition to the changes. One colleague said it was ‘an Amazon type race to the bottom’.

“The rep said, ‘It’s not the members fault that Royal Mail gave away all the money to shareholders’, so basically there was no alternative.”

“The management representatives just agreed with the CWU, telling everyone: “your union has agreed [to the pilots].”

Workers say there was no clear explanation provided about the ODM and its impact on work practices. It was stated that delivery frames would be re-configured based on the reduced mail service and a new route coverage would proceed based on a revised start date moved back from February to March.

No senior CWU officials showed their face at the briefing. But it later transpired that one of those standing side-by-side with management was a CWU Divisional Rep. He did not introduce himself during the briefing, but went around the workplace afterwards telling postal staff that unless the pilot was accepted, they could be out of a job and the company would go bankrupt.