Private operators such as TNT Post competing with Britain’s Royal Mail could be boycotted bypostal workers over allegations of unfair competition and ‘poverty wages’, the powerful CWU postal
union threatened today. But TNT Post strongly denied the accusations.The union accused TNT Post, which is currently testing a ‘final mile’ delivery service ahead ofa possible nationwide rollout, of paying its workers ‘poverty wages’ and of competing unfairly by ‘cherry-picking’ lucrative delivery routes, thus undermining Britain’s universal service andthreatening full-time jobs at Royal Mail.
The CWU called on British postal regulator Ofcom to enforce a minimum wage at competitors andthreatened to boycott mail “sent” by competitors but actually delivered by Royal Mail if Ofcom didnot act. This would effectively hold up non-Royal Mail letters within the postal system and preventthem from being delivered to recipients.
But the claims were angrily rejected by Nick Wells, head of TNT Post UK. Speaking at today’s UKPostal Services Conference in London, he described the CWU’s behaviour and threats as “hostile” andsaid claims made by the CWU in leaflets delivered to customers were “libelous”.
He said: “The CWU needs to get its facts right. While the starting wage is £7.10 an hour, thisgoes up to £8.70 after three months, which is the London ‘living wage’.” Wells also said it wouldbe “illegal” for Royal Mail to refuse to deliver mail on behalf of TNT or any customer, because ithad a statutory obligation to deliver.
Rejecting the accusation of ‘cherry-picking’, Wells said the reason TNT had chosen to launch itsend-to-end postal delivery trials in London was because “if we can make it work in London, we canmake it work anywhere”. He added: “The trials that we have done have been successful on allmeasures, and so it is no longer a question of whether it is possible. Now the only barriers areRoyal Mail and the regulator.”
Wells said there was “irrefutable evidence that the postal provider improves its level ofperformance under competition”, and that TNT was giving opportunities for employment for youngpeople, as well as providing much-needed competition in the market.
The CWU this morning unveiled its campaign “to highlight the threat to the UK’s universal postalservice and jobs within the industry”. Its key demands were that Ofcom should “step in and redressthe balance of unfair competition” by protecting the universal service and ending cherry-picking indelivery in order to maintain quality, affordable postal services and to prevent competition on thebasis of low wages, insecure jobs and poor conditions.
Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said: “Today we’re launching a major initiative to protectpostal services in the face of mounting threats to jobs and services. Under unfair competitionwe’ve seen prices rise, services diminish, closures and job losses.”
The union said it was concerned that unfair competition is undermining the sustainability of theuniversal service – the six days a week one price goes anywhere service which Royal Mail providesto all addresses in the UK. The union is also concerned at the impact on jobs across the industry,in particular the quality of pay and conditions for postal workers.
It claimed that 45% of letter volumes delivered by Royal Mail were in fact “competitor letters”inserted into the delivery system under Britain’s downstream access arrangements for competitors.Competitors were able to win lucrative contracts and then use Royal Mail for delivery at low fixedrates, it said.
In addition, TNT Post, a PostNL subsidiary, had been allowed to undertake end-to-end deliveriesin some urban areas, further eroding Royal Mail’s volumes and revenue, while Royal Mail was obligedto meet strict quality of service standards and deliver to every address in the UK, regardless ofhow remote or expensive it is, the union added.
“If unfair competition is allowed to continue unabated, it could destroy the high servicestandards we enjoy, the USO could collapse and that would be a disaster for post services and allwho rely on them; both the public and – crucially – small businesses. Private companies will notset up deliveries to all parts of the UK, only to densely populated urban areas where they can makea return. The profit for a few private companies would come at the expense of higher costs for allconsumers, small businesses and services for rural communities,” the CWU declared.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “What we’re seeing is private companies beingable to do what they want with little concern for how it affects postal-services in the round. Forexample, TNT is conducting end-to-end deliveries without having to meet any quality standards whilepaying people little more than minimum wage. That will lead to a race to the bottom on pay whichwill be bad news for the economy in general and postal workers in particular.
“We want a fair deal for all workers across the postal sector with decent pay and conditions,but current competition means cutting costs at the expense of decent jobs. TNT competes by payingpoverty wages. When TNT boasts of creating 20,000 jobs over five years, this means 20,000 jobsbelow the living wage, not on full-time hours and reducing fairly paid jobs elsewhere in theindustry. We need fair competition between postal operators not competition at the expense ofliving standards.”
The union warned: “CWU will hold a consultative ballot of its members in Royal Mail in the NewYear with the intention of boycotting competitors’ mail. This would mean that any mail sent via acompany other than Royal Mail would not be delivered. If no progress is made by the regulator thenthe boycott will be put in place.”
Ward declared: “We’re not prepared to stand by and watch the jobs of our members be ruined byunfair competition which could be avoided. Boycotting parts of the mail which are damaging servicesis a proportionate response to the threat posed by unfair competition.”
The CWU has some 200,000 members at Royal Mail, the Post Office, UK Mail and othercompanies.
