Scottish Government deals killer blow to Royal Mail on eve of national strike

The Scottish Government have dealt a killer blow to Royal Mail by awarding the £8million Procurement Scotland/public sector contract which deals with the mail to NHS Scotland, colleges and most councils in Scotland to TNT from the 1st November.

How must Royal Mail staff across Scotland feel now, today on the eve of the big UK wide strike when they find out the SNP controlled Government have stabbed them in their backs?

This news comes only a matter of weeks after the announcement that Royal Mail had lost the contract with Amazon, this cannot be healthy for Scotland?

Yesterday in the House of Commons, the Liberal Democrats Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael questioned postal services Minister, Pat McFadden MP this very issue.

Speaking in the House of Commons Chamber, Mr Carmichael asked;

“Even without the impact of strike action we have the very alarming news in Scotland, that one of the major public sector contracts, the Procurement Scotland/public sector contract which deals with the mail to NHS Scotland, colleges and most councils in Scotland is going to be given to a private sector operator. What can he do to ensure that the hemorrhaging of business that we’ve seen from private business to which he has referred does not now spread to the public sector?”

Replying, Minister for Business, Pat McFadden MP said;

“Competition exists and it won’t go away. Competition exists in the postal service and I have to say to the Honourable member that it cannot be wished away, band what I want is a Royal Mail that is fit to win in that market rather than a Royal Mail that simply wishes competition to go away, and I make a second point the most fundamental challenge to Royal Mail is not competition from other mail companies it’s competition from other communication technologies and that must lie at the heart of the response to this dispute.”

I am pleased that Alistair Carmichael is taking the Government to task over this but I wonder what the SNPs Mike Weir MP will have to say about it, he has strong views on TNT you know?

On the 16th March this year, SNP Postal Affairs spokesperson, Mike Weir MP, expressed bemusement at news HM Revenue & Customs had awarded a £4.5 million-a-year contract to deliver its internal mail to TNT and went on to say;

“I think people will struggle to understand why a firm, which just repaid millions in unpaid taxes, has been awarded a multi-million pound contract from the Inland Revenue.

“HMRC really need to explain what their thinking is on this one.

“To make matters worse this is the firm that appears to be front-runner to buy into Royal Mail if Lord Mandelson’s privatisation plans come to fruition.

“Privatisation would spell the beginning of the end for Royal Mail, and open the door to job losses, service cuts and a deterioration in the working conditions of postal workers.

“A private partner will only be concerned with profit, and Royal Mail must not loose the social focus which is essential for rural areas.”

I wonder if Mr. Weir would like his comments passed onto the First Minister, who's Government have awarded the new government contract to TNT?

Don't get me wrong, I am also all for competition and obviously like to pay the cheapest cost to get something done but is the right time to be putting the boot into the Royal Mail, it appears that our SNP and Labour Governments don't actually care?

I think it is right to have competition within the postal services, but Royal Mail should run the mail system and not have to do it at a loss and should treat their workers with respect and loyalty and then maybe we wouldn't see the continuing strikes escalate.

The Scottish Government response to the £8million contract being awarded to TNT instead of Royal Mail? "The other bigger contract went to the Royal Mail" - the problem is they already had the contract!

Postal strike - who is benefitting?

So, the strike by Royal Mail employees in London, now in it's 14th week is continue to spread like a rash. Today postal workers in Ayrshire have joined in, the strike has already affected other parts of Scotland - Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, Bathgate, Dunfermline and Cumbernauld.

This action taken by workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) comes ahead of the ballot for a nationwide strike due next week.

Who actually benefits with these unofficial and official strikes though?

According to the CWU website they acknowledge that Royal Mail needs to modernise but that they need to do it with CWU Members, Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "Without agreement there can be no successful change in Royal Mail. This is a simple message which Royal Mail management needs to take on board. Postal workers are striking to defend future services as well as for jobs and modern conditions.

"Modernisation is crucial to the future success of Royal Mail, but the implementation of change must be agreed and it must bring with it modern pay and conditions.

"Postal workers deserve to be rewarded for change. We want to see a new job security agreement which will help people through this time of change for the company."

In my eyes what the CWU are saying is yes, we agree the company needs to modernise but pay us more for working within that framework - to be honest I don't quite get that side of an argument because then that costs more on top of the modernisation costs which equals more debt and therefore counteracts the overall modernisation argument.

Royal Mail Managing Director Mark Higson said: "The ballot further underlines the CWU’s determination to renege on the existing 2007 agreement on Pay and Modernisation which the union’s leadership signed in the presence of the TUC. It beggars belief that CWU chief Dave Ward says today that the disruption caused by the CWU strike is hurting customers yet at the same time calls a national strike ballot to step up the damage they are already inflicting on customers big and small.

"The CWU leadership is well aware that it has already agreed all the changes Royal Mail is making and we urge them to recognise the tough economic conditions faced by all our customers and Royal Mail itself and to live up to their claims to support modernisation and to focus - as the company is doing- on delivering the postal service on which so many customers depend."

You can read fully what Royal Mail and the CWU say.

I represent the good folk of Britain and I will be honest, I have sent mail via other means now and it was easy and sometimes cheaper, certainly if I need to get something to London I will look in detail at other ways of doing this.

More and more companies are moving to other companies such as DHL and TNT, what will CWU Members do when even more companies do and when the public start searching out these other alternatives? Royal Mail accept a 10% drop in mail over the last year, surely these strikes don't help to change that?

Surely what the CWU don't get is that there are more mail companies popping up all the time and while they currently rely on Royal Mail for the final point of delivery, how much longer will that last while the majority of workers continue to strike?

Finally we see the CWU doing a national ballot but what is there view on the wildcat strikes? I couldn't find anything obvious on their website.

There are also over 2.4million people unemployed looking for a paid job, one that pays more than the state benefits of around £60.50 per week, how does that compare to a postal worker?

If working for Royal Mail is that bad stand aside and let someone else have a go and you can then go and do something you enjoy.