Postal Workers Protest In Westminster

Ministers say the company cannot survive as it is and needs to be part-privatised to pay for modernisation.

But 125 Labour MPs oppose it, fearing full privatisation and job losses, and argue Labour made an election pledge to keep the Royal Mail in public hands.
Hundreds of postal worker members of the Communication Workers' Union attended a rally at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster today.

Angry criticism of government policy, and calls for the CWU to sever its links with the Labour Party; were the themes of the protest rally.

Furthermore, the CWU’s General Secretary Billy Hayes rejected what he called the blackmail claims leaked by the government from the trustees of Royal Mail's pension fund warning it faces disaster unless the sale takes place. He further said that the publication of the letter was an effort to "scare" MPs into voting with the government.

The letter from Jane Newell, the chair of trustees of Royal Mail's pension scheme warns the deficit was likely to rise well in excess of its current £5.9bn, should the part privatisation not happen.

Billy Hayes said it was a "scandal" that the chairman of the pension trustees was "interfering" in politics.

Labour backbencher John Grogan was quoted by the BBC as saying that three cabinet ministers had told him they opposed the plan, "Is this the time for the Labour government, which is going through hard times at the moment, to completely split the Parliamentary party down the middle? Over 100 Labour MPs have signed a motion against these proposals - it's going to be Peter Mandelson against a big bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party."

Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, in a press release issued prior to the rally at Westminster, said:

"Labour MPs, postal workers and the British public all oppose privatisation of Royal Mail. Peter Mandelson is running scared of his own party and of the public by putting legislation to an un-elected House of Lords this week. We don't need lectures from the House of Lords on how to run Royal Mail.

The Pension Trustees letter leaked last night is a distraction designed to scare MPs . Privatisation is not linked in any way to sorting out the pension fund. It's not even about protecting pension benefits, it's about making the company viable for take-over.
If the Government puts this Bill through with help of the Conservatives it will be a stain on the Labour Party that will last for years to come."

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