Fact Service September 2011

Issue 38

Calls to stop Post Office privatisation

Unions have attacked the coalition government’s plans for the Post Office, revealed by postal minister Ed Davey at the Liberal Democrat’s annual conference

Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU communications workers' union, said the government was trying to wash its hands of the Post Office by pursuing an ideological agenda of privatisation. “This is jeopardising the future of the postal service, not securing it.”

“Mutualisation won’t keep post office counters open,” Hayes said. Dozens of post offices have closed under the coalition government because contracts and services have been taken away by government, undermining revenues and leaving an uncertain future.

The way to secure the future of the Post Office was keep it as part of a modernised Royal Mail. “Breaking the Post Office away from Royal Mail is an experiment which no other country has risked,” Hayes said.

Unite which represents managers at Royal Mail has also warned that the mutualisation is a recipe for disaster. Ian Tonks, Unite national officer, said, “Mutualisation is another unhelpful distraction. The real issue here is that the Post Office and Royal Mail depend heavily on each other. Separation, privatisation and mutualisation are recipes for disaster. ”

“One way to make the Post Office sustainable is to set up a Post Bank, but Ed Davey has consistently refused to even consider this proposal."

www.cwu.org/news/archive/government-risking-post-office-future.html

www.unitetheunion.org/news__events/latest_news/unite_warning_over_post_office.aspx