Government Bribes And Threats Over Royal Mail

According to the news media today, the government is expected to offer pledges to MPS that the Royal Mail will remain in public ownership and make that a part of the Bill to sell off 30% of the service.

Add to that the threat that not to accept the part privatisation will risk the pensions of the postal workers, and you have a pretty blunt attempt to frighten off those MPS intending to vote against the proposals.

Despite this it is expected that the Overpayment will need the support of the opposition parties to carry this Bill through.

The threat of the loss of pensions is in no way having any affect on the will of the postal workers to fight against what they see as the thin edge of the full privatisation wedge that is being built by this Labour government.

Some argue that the true nature of this government can be seen by their willingness to spend billions of tax payers money in bailing out the bankers who have caused the current economic crisis, whilst at the same time refusing to fully pay the deficit in the Royal Mail pension fund. They also argue that this is just an excuse to put Royal Pail into private hands.

Certainly the view of the CWU and it's members is that there is no need to privatise Royal Mail either in part or in full.

An article quoting postman Sean Tait who will complete his 35th year of service as a postman in two weeks time, appeared in yesterday's BBC New On-Line website. Sean is clearly not convinced by the argument that privatisation is the only way to save his pension.

Commenting on the recent changes to the pension fund and how it is affecting him he told the BBC:

"To get what I would have got at the age of 60 I'm going to have to work into my 61st or 62nd year, and changes planned for the future could mean I've got to work even longer."

He added that Monday's warning about the health of Royal Mail pensions made the outlook even worse. "Potentially to get the same pension, I might even have to
work past 65."

However, he disagrees with the claim the government's efforts to part-privatise the Royal Mail are the best hope of preserving the pension scheme, saying instead that taxpayers' money should be used to under-write the problems with the pension scheme.

"That would free up the money that the business is currently paying into it, in excess of what it would normally pay," he says.

In the meantime, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said he would listen to concerns about the plans but would not "duck" the issue.

He says in the plan published today and entitled The Future of the Universal Postal Service in the UK, that Britain's postal "network is under threat as people increasingly switch to digital technology as their preferred way of communicating".

He writes: "I am determined to protect the universal service by ensuring we have a world class Royal Mail. That requires us to act today to secure the Royal Mail's future.

"The policy we are proposing will keep the Royal Mail in the public sector, while equipping it for modernisation."

He said the aim was to "fully restore a publicly owned Royal Mail to good health".

Billy Hayes was interviewed on the Daily Politics show on BBC TV last Thursday, on the day the Bill was published.

You can watch it here

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