The despatch of the
New Worker has inevitably been hit by problems facing Royal Mail during the coronavirus
emergency. At least three postal workers have died from the coronavirus
infection. Many more have either contracted the virus or are self-isolating while
industrial action over Management’s failure to implement the emergency health
regulations in some depots has led to industrial action right across the
country.
The Communication
Workers Union (CWU), that represents the workers in the mail sector, has called
for the closure of any sorting office that lacked protective equipment like
gloves or failed to put in place measures to keep staff two metres apart.
Though Royal Mail is committed to implementing social distancing measures in
some areas postal workers have been forced to work in unsafe conditions,
largely without personal protective equipment (PPE), adequate hand cleansing
facilities or social distancing. Over
the past few weeks there’ve been protest walk-outs at depots in south London
and other parts of England including Bridgewater, Chatham, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent,
Warrington, Didcot; Edinburgh, Alloa and Fife in Scotland and Swansea in Wales.
Last week Management
unilaterally suspended Saturday deliveries without consulting the union. But the
CWU forced Royal Mail to limit the cut in service to just six weeks.
CWU general secretary
Dave Ward said: “It’s been a very stressful time for our members. We have now
secured correspondence to confirm this is only a temporary change and on that
basis Rico Back (RM CEO) has said it has been reduced from three months to six
weeks. The important point is this is a temporary change only, linked to the
current situation in the country with the coronavirus pandemic”.
Ward also received
assurances there would be no job losses associated with the suspension of
Saturday deliveries that any duty changes would be voluntary and negotiated
locally. The CWU leader said: “This major breakthrough wouldn’t have been
achieved with our members. We come out of this a lot stronger.”
New Worker subscribers
in south London, the Midlands and central Scotland have experienced long delays
in getting their paper though the situation in south London has now improved.
In practice virtually all our papers are
delivered. But some don’t get through even in the best of times. So if you
haven’t received your paper by Wednesday ring Carole at the Centre and we’ll
put another in the post for you.
