Following a week of discussions behind closed doors, the national executive of the Communication Workers Union voted by nine votes to five on October 22 to recommend that postal workers accept Royal Mail's latest offer on pay, pensions and working conditions. The proposed deal will now be put to CWU members in a national ballot.
The deal falls far short of the union's demands, and is a slap in the face for the hundreds of thousands of postal workers who had braved management intimidation in holding a series of solid strike actions.
On pay, the official offer is 6.9% over two years, but 1.5% of this is linked to the acceptance of the "flexible working practices" that have led to thousands of postal workers taking part in unofficial action since the CWU suspended its official strikes on October 17. The real offer is thus 5.4% over two years, below the current inflation rate. A lump sum payment of £175 is included, but as a statement by Richie Venton, the Scottish Socialist Party's workplace organiser, explained: "it comes out of the Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOS), a bonus scheme which is about to be wound up anyway, with payouts of the earned bonuses due regardless of this pay offer. In short, the £175 is not new money, but cash taken from a postie's left pocket to his/her right pocket."
The October 27 British Socialist Worker explained the implications of the deal for postal workers' pensions: "Normal retirement age will be increased to 65 from 1 April 2010. Existing members of the scheme will retain their right to take their pension at age 60, but will face cuts which will rob them of thousands of pounds. The existing scheme will be closed to new entrants, leading to a two tier workforce."
On the vexed issue of "flexible" working practices, the paper noted that the CWU leadership "has conceded the employers' position almost completely. Local reps are going to be forced into agreeing 'efficiency deals' with managers — that will mean the same amount of work being done in fewer hours."
The CWU leadership also agreed to introduce "local trials" of flexible working arrangements that enables bosses to change working hours at the drop of a hat. Although a statement posted on the CWU website on October 22 hailed this as "a commonsense approach to new ways of working", it is clear that the deal is unlikely to be popular with posties. Dave Warren, one of the five national executive members who voted against the proposal, told Socialist Worker that he was urging CWU members to reject the offer in the forthcoming national ballot.