CWU

Communication Workers' Union

CWU backs LRC

Possible privatisation of Royal Mail, and the union’s link to the Labour Party, were the big issues at the General Conference of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) in Blackpool from Sunday 12 June. On Sunday the Executive’s emergency proposition, calling for a strategy to defeat privatisation and a review of the Labour link at conference 2006 if privatisation happens was narrowly passed. The alternative was a demand to withdraw from the Labour Party in November 2005 if the Government will not give a restatement of its commitment in the general election manifesto to keep the Post Office...

Pensions and privatisation

By Maria Exall, CWU Executive (pers cap) The intertwined issues of pensions and retirement age will be on the agenda at this year’s Communication Workers’ Union conference. The Post Office schemes are not in the frame for the attacks curremtly happening in the rest of the public sector, but the threat is still there. There will be a call for ballots for strike action if any attempt is made to reduce benefits or increase the age that members are entitled to claim their pension. The issue of possible Post Office privatisation will be discussed but motions also call for a review of the Postal...

One mail service, publicly-owned, democratically controlled!

Royal Mail boss Alan Leighton has been mooting privatisation of the Post Office. Postal worker Pete Keenlyside reviews a recent report by the telecom and postal workers’ union CWU, which analyses the state of the service and the threats it faces. The CWU’s view of the future of the Post Office is quite clear. What we want is a publicly owned and accountable postal service delivering a quality service that the public wants, staffed by well paid, well trained and motivated staff. Unfortunately, the gap between our view and the reality on the ground is huge. We have an industry starved of funds...

Will the postal service be privatised?

By a CWU member Hardly had the last election result been counted, and the Chair of Royal Mail, Allan Leighton, began to call for a share issue and employee buyout for the ailing firm. He says he wants to pump £2 billion extra investment into the postal industry. His proposals, as far as they have been made clear, assume a part-privatisation of Royal Mail. The CWU has written to all MPs saying it opposes such proposals. This is not the first time that Allan Leighton has tried to set Labour’s agenda for the future of the Post Office. The “Warwick Agreement” between the Labour-affiliated unions...

CWU activists lobby MPs

On 1 March CWU activists lobbied their MPs to argue the case for “Delivery Quality” in postal services. This CWU initiative marks a departure from previous union policy on “commercial freedom”. A CWU document sent to all MPs calls for additional investment to secure the future of the Post Office in the public sector. The document rejects the liberal competitive model for the postal sector, arguing that customer service will suffer. The CWU is opposing the acceleration of liberalisation brought on by the Government implementing European legislation a year early.

Communication Workers back Iraqi unions

The Communication Workers' Union Executive on 23/02/05 passed a motion in support of the new Iraqi workers' movement. See the Iraqi Workers' Solidarity Group website for text.

Union members vote to keep political funds

On Friday 12 November 2004, eight unions closed their political fund review ballots - ASLEF, BECTU, CATU, CWU, FBU, GMB, TSSA and USDAW. All achieved overwhelming yes votes, with an average 77% affirmative vote. This brings the total number of unions to achieve massive yes votes, in this the third round of review ballots, to 16. ASLEF - 80% yes on 49% turnout BECTU - 75% yes on 29% turnout CATU - 67% yes on 19% turnout CWU - 73% yes on 33% turnout FBU - 74% yes on 42% turnout GMB - 88% yes on 19% turnout TSSA - 78% yes on 26% turnout USDAW - 81% yes on 18% turnout. The RMT's political fund...

Alan No. 2

Another bright-spark Blairite who has been recently elevated to high places — as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions — is Alan Johnson. Johnson was also a “Trot” when he was a teenager. But he also soon left that behind. What experience will Alan bring to his new job? As General Secretary of the UCW, then CWU, he was the architect of the terrible policy of “commercial freedom” for a publicly owned Post Office within a liberalised market. That meant tens of thousands of job cuts and a reduction in service to the customers. He was a fervent opponent of repealing the anti-union laws, arguing...

Taking politics back to the workplace

Alex Gordon , from the South Wales and the West region of the seafarers' and railworkers' union RMT, and Billy Hayes , the General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union, contributed to our debate on working class political representation at our Ideas for Freedom Summer school on 3-4 July. We print extracts from their speeches below Alex Gordon Working class political representation is under pressure from the impact of globalisation. Industrial struggle hasn't gone away but political struggle has moved out of Parliament - and onto the streets. The last few years have seen neo-liberal...

CWU debates relationship to Labour

By a CWU member The conference of the postal and telecoms workers' union, the CWU, discussed the relationship of the union to the Labour Party in the context of the expulsion of the the RMT, and an expected disaffiliation of the FBU. There were several propositions calling for the union to take a more pro-active stance towards the Labour Party, including one calling for a review of the supported MPs and a calling to account of CWU delegates to Labour Party bodies, as well as support for the Labour Representation Committee. However at the last moment an Emergency proposition was taken that...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.