British postal union CWU has agreed not to boycott delivery of letters fed by competitors intoRoyal Mail’s network for now following the company’s claims that a boycott of downstream access
mail would be illegal.The postal operator officially confirmed the receipt of legally binding undertakings from theCommunication Workers Union ‘not to induce its members employed by Royal Mail to refuse to handleaccess mail’.
Last month, staff at Royal Mail overwhelmingly opposed privatisation of the British postaloperator in a consultative ballot showing they were ready to boycott competitor mail. A high 74% of112,000 Royal Mail postal workers responded to the consultative ballot organised by postal unionCWU. According to the union, 96% said they opposed the company’s privatisation, 92% supported theboycott of competitors’ ‘downstream access’ mail and 99% supported the union’s ongoing payclaim.
In response to the vote, Royal Mail moved quickly to prevent a boycott by securing a High Courtundertaking from the CWU not to encourage members to refuse to handle access letters and parcelsbefore a further High Court hearing on June 28.
Royal Mail added that CWU has not held a ballot for industrial action as required by law aheadof any stoppage in the workplace. “Furthermore, we believe any action against access mail deliverywould be unlawful. We regret that it was necessary to pursue this matter by way of legal action.However, we were given no choice but to seek a court order to protect our business, our accesscustomers and the homes and businesses that receive mail.”
The company pointed out that letters and parcels it delivers under downstream access contractsaccount for around half of its daily volumes and make a significant contribution to the business. “Any action against access mail delivery would adversely impact on large numbers of the generalpublic, and the postal industry as a whole by increasing e-substitution. It would also severelyimpact on our business, our reputation and that of our employees,” the postal operator said in astatement.
The CWU already expressed concerns previously over competition in direct delivery and itspotential impact on the universal service and Royal Mail. Earlier this year, Royal Mail made adetailed submission to Ofcom raising similar concerns. In response, and following a consultation,Ofcom set out its guidance for the postal market explaining how it would intervene if directdelivery competition threatened the financial sustainability of the universal service. It could,for example, require other postal operators to deliver to a certain specification, such as aminimum number of days a week or a specified geographic area. Ofcom also made clear it wouldcontinue to review the situation in the market to consider the need for any intervention to protectthe universal service.
Stephen Agar, Managing Director Consumer and Network Access, said: “We are very clear at RoyalMail that we need to deliver every single item of mail that arrives in our network as the lawrequires. As a business or as an employee, we cannot be selective and treat one piece of mail anydifferently from any other.”
After accepting that it would not be legal to undertake boycott action on the back of theconsultative ballot alone, the CWU union stressed that the fight over unfair competition goeson.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “We have accepted the advice of lawyers that itwould not be legal to take action on boycotting competitors’ mail on the basis of the consultativeballot result alone. We are now considering how this action could be taken. There are a number ofoutstanding issues for our members in Royal Mail and we are exploring the possibility of holding anational industrial action ballot which could also deal with the boycott. In the meantime, RoyalMail must explain to its workforce how they are going to protect revenue, jobs and terms andconditions when they have abjectly failed to tackle this issue. They should be taking TNT to court,not us.”
“TNT is allowed to set up delivery networks on an unlevel playing field – delivering what theywant, when they want, where they want on poverty pay and with no quality of service standards. Thegovernment and regulator are sleepwalking into a disaster waiting to happen. The fight goes on toprotect the future of UK postal services,” he added. Ward was referring to TNT Post UK.
