The wall.

Thirty five years since learning German became a part of my life. Twenty years since the fall of the wall. Another set of challenges…

News coverage has been extensive. I liked this piece East Germans Lost much in 1989

Countdown to Copenhagen. Climate Change.

It’s a good bet that some of us are already suffering from information overload on this one. What’s going to be happening at Copenhagen? If you’re looking for a brief overview of what some of the problems are, try this Guardian article:

For some radical criticisms – go to this Greenpeace link.

Jeremy Leggett’s new site

Just received a note from Jeremy Leggett. I first became aware of Jeremy’s work when working for the North Sea campaign at Greenpeace Germany in the eighties. With little prospect of effective agreement at Copenhagen, it seems we need to hang on tight to those who talk good sense – and Jeremy does. 

The site is packed full of analysis on the ‘triple energy crisis’. See:  Jeremy Leggett

 

Postal Strike. CWU/Royal Mail Interim Agreement

The Communication Workers Union and the Royal Mail have reached an interim agreement in a press release issued today, the CWU said:

The CWU’s postal executive yesterday (Thursday) unanimously endorsed the attached agreement. This agreement has been brought about by the strength of the union’s national strike ballot and the overwhelming support for the strikes.

 The interim agreement contains significant developments and concessions that have mainly emerged in the last few days. The interim agreement ensures that the long running bitter local disputes are now resolved by negotiation and agreement. These strikes developed as a result of management imposition and the interim agreement genuinely returns these issues back to the need to agree change.

 The interim agreement also ensures postal workers will work normally during the Christmas period, ensuring they get the chance to earn extra money. This is a benefit that has been denied to workers as Royal Mail has tried to build a casual workforce. The agreement also deals strongly with discipline cases, clear up arrangements and stops the growing practice in Royal Mail of taking people off pay.

 Most importantly, the interim agreement is very specific on how a full and final agreement will be shaped. It guarantees that Royal Mail will agree change and that workers will get real benefits from the modernisation of the business.

 Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “There is no doubt that the strength of support from postal workers in the strikes has made Royal Mail think again. They have made significant concessions this week that are clear for everybody to see. Those concessions have allowed us to suspend strike action and work towards a full and final agreement. The union has always been focused on achieving modernisation by consent and now the company has finally acknowledged that is how we must go forward.

 ”The agreement ensures the imposed change that has led to the bitter local disputes will now be subject to negotiation and agreement. It also deals with with clear up arrangements and discipline but most crucially the interim agreement is clear in shaping the final agreement and the benefits that postal workers can now expect from the future.  

“Trust remains an issue between the union and the company but the introduction of an independent chair to continue the negotiations and fortnightly reviews will mean that nobody can walk away from this agreement.”  

The national ballot and all local ballots remain in place. 

Postal Strikes called off

The CWU has today announced that the postal strikes planned for Friday 6^th November and Monday 9^th November have been called off.

The CWU said: “CWU and Royal Mail have reached an interim agreement that was unanimously agreed by the union’s Postal Executive today. 

The interim agreement will provide a period of calm for the CWU and Royal Mail to reach a full and final agreement. The interim agreement guarantees that modernisation will be introduced with agreed job security and improved terms and conditions for postal workers. It also addresses all the issues included in the long running local disputes.  

The strike ballot remains in place. 

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: “There needs to be exceptional efforts to improve trust and relationships between CWU and Royal Mail. As a result both TUC and ACAS will have a continuing role to keep the discussions and agreement on track.” 

The details of the agreement are embargoed until 12noon Friday 6^th November 2009.

Postal strike – bullies in the background

 In a delivery office picket-line interview last Saturday – I discussed the dispute with official CWU steward Tom Astle. He told me: “As the service gets worse – the bonuses (of senior management like Adam Crozier) go up – they’re being rewarded for taking our jobs”.

“The Royal Mail promised in 2007 the union would have a say in the future direction of the business,” Tom said. “But we’re not getting the information we need…they’re trying to derecognise the union.”

I asked Tom about the new machines which are being introduced and what the union thought about them. (In an earlier blog post - I describe how a passing delivery worker said he thought the machines were a good idea but ‘the Royal Mail have had the money for them for two years and can’t get them to work’.)

Tom said the machines were walk-sorting sequencing machines (I’ve worked on both LSMs – letter sorting machines and IMPs – Integrated Mail Processors myself). He said they were up and running in Germany - but here  the Royal Mail were still going through the process of ‘trialling’ them. In other words, the machines don’t appear to be working yet and it’s an issue of bad management.

Whilst Tom and I were talking a lone voice behind me on the picket line said: “and then there’s the bullying”.

I turned round and said flatly: “Yes – I know all about that”. Having worked at the Royal Mail for five years, that’s true. But afterwards I realised my comment must have sounded dismissive and that I should have asked this postal worker what he meant and got something else on record. I was shocked at my own mindset which was,  I suppose - bullying is still so widespread at the Mail it’s not news.

I believe bullying is still deeply embedded in corporate practices (see reports from the  Oxford Mail Centre and more recently Swindon ). Anyone who is bullied and survives (and tragically in the history of the Royal Mail there are some who haven’t) will tell you it takes time to figure out what’s going on. When and if you ever do - you’re faced with stark ’choices’. You speak up – risk making the situation worse - 0r keep quiet – and stay helpless. Either way, until and unless you quickly acquire skin like a rhino – as far as your emotional well-being is concerned and for a good while at least – (until you start fighting back) – you’re pretty much fucked. 

There are endless examples of ‘dysfunctional’ corporate working practices at the Royal Mail. Blogger Roy Mayall (a pseudonym) has recently been accused of being on the pay roll of a PR company. The accusation appears to be an attempt to discredit his writing which I hope is not going to work – simply because there are too many posties (I’ve had messages from at least three) who recognise the truth in what he is saying. It’s what blogging (at it’s best) was destined for: he’s describing human realities that don’t otherwise see the ’light of print’.

 Every postperson is familiar with the so-called ‘attendance’ procedure which Roy describes. (See his piece Sick Postman get the Sack). Such a procedure would be outrageous and unacceptable in other workplace circumstances - where are the discussions to ‘modernise’ this procedure (from a human resources point of view?).

A source told me recently that  one-hour contracts of work are now being offered to postal workers in the North West. I’ve written before about what I call ‘part-time-full-time’ work contracts. This appears to be an extreme example about how far worker’s rights have been eroded at the Mail. What’s the story on these?

A worker is given a part-time contract (for example for one hour) – but for the majority of the time they may work up to forty hours a week or more. The rest of the thirty-nine (or more) hours is made up of what is called ‘overtime’. The total amount of work that a person is allocated can fluctuate from week to week according to demand. And of course employment rights ‘fluctuate’ too (as described in a previous post).

As far as anti-bullying procedures are concerned – they are in place at the Royal Mail – but there is at least one problem with them. Before a worker can access an employment tribunal – I believe they are required to complete internal disciplinary and grievance procedures. These are supposedly ‘independent’ but in fact there is the ever-present danger that the company ‘polices’ itself. 

The biggest bully of them all, though – has got to be the government. I couldn’t say it better than Gregor Gall of the Guardian:

“As the only shareholder, the government no longer sees maintenance of the service during a strike as a key aim so it does not intervene to force a peaceful resolution.

Instead, it wants Royal Mail to browbeat the CWU into submission so that Royal Mail is an out-and-out business making ever increasing profits. In order to do that, it has allowed Royal Mail to set the dogs on the CWU. The only thing is, the CWU is biting back and drawing blood“

See Gregor’s article: The postal strike’s fiery war of words.

GMB calls on Lord Mandelson to investigate employment agencies breaking law by supplying temporary workers to do work of Royal Mail strikers

 In a letter to Lord Mandelson sent yesterday the GMB union has asked for investigation of breaches in the law in Slough, Bristol and Dartford and “does not rule out enforcement proceedings against Business Department and the Government if they fail to act”.

GMB last month set up a hotline 0208 971 4217 for members of the public to report breaches of the law by employment agencies.

GMB has almost 600,000 members working in every part of the economy. One in every 32 people at work in the UK is a member of GMB and GMB is organised in 34 of the UK’s biggest 50 companies

Postal Strike Update. Wednesday

Talks between the Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail continue at Trades Union Council (TUC) headquarters in central London, chaired by TUC general secretary Brendan Barber. Both the union and Royal Mail have agreed not to speak publicly about the detail of the discussions so far. Negotiations will resume at the same venue this morning. 

The General Secretary of the CWU Billy Hayes explains why postal workers are taking the Royal Mail to the High Court this week over the company’s use of agency workers. See this Guardian podcast.

A CWU spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed  that Royal Mail appears to be more interested in sidelining the views and concerns of its staff rather than reaching an agreement to bring this dispute to an end…Instead of spending vast sums of money on untrained temporary workers we urge the Royal Mail to engage with talks to reach an agreement to get the permanent staff back to work…

  …Royal Mail is planning for failure here instead of addressing the concerns of its staff. Postal workers deserve more than this dismissive attitude…CWU remains available for talks to avoid a strike.”

The two national strikes on Friday 6th November and Monday 9th November – involving all 121,000 members in Royal Mail letters – are set to go ahead as planned.

Death threats for journalists covering far right demos

The following press release was issued by the National Union of Journalists today and is reprinted here in full:  

 Tough and urgent action is needed in response to violence, intimidation and death threats targeting journalists covering far right demonstrations.

 The call by NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear comes in the wake of specific email threats against photojournalist and investigative reporter Marc Vallée, and video journalist Jason N. Parkinson.

 The emails follow verbal threats and intimidation aimed at photographers covering a march by the English Defence League in Leeds at the weekend and other EDL protests this year.

 Professional journalists covering the events have filed reports with the NUJ detailing physical violence, including one being punched in the head, verbal threats, and attempts to seize cameras and smash equipment. The union is to file complaints to the police.

 Jeremy Dear said: “In a week when yet more photographers have been targeted by right-wing hate website Redwatch, when out on the streets professional photographers are subjected to violence and intimidation by right-wing thugs, there must be tough and urgent action in response to these latest death threats.

 ”These are not idle threats made by kids – these are direct, named threats made by individuals who can be traced – in one case an individual already convicted of stabbing someone. They are designed to silence the media and stop photographers showing the true nature of the protests and protestors. The police must act now before a journalist is killed or seriously injured”.

 Jason N. Parkinson said: “It is ironic the English Defence League claim they are protesting ‘peacefully’ against Muslim extremism. Then late Saturday night, after returning from covering the Leeds protest, I receive a threatening email from one of their Welsh and English division organisers entitled ‘Fatwa’.

 ”This is exactly the behaviour and tactics of extremism the EDL claim they are against. Someone should remind the EDL that the fundamental root of all democratic society, including in the UK, is press freedom. Intimidation, violence, Fatwas and death threats are not.”

 Marc Vallée said: “I find it intriguing that only four weeks after attending a BNP press conference – at London’s City Hall – I’m targeted by Redwatch in this way. We should be free to go about our lawful and necessary work without such intimidation. I’m determined that when journalists are targeted in this way the only effective response is a collective one as well as journalistic one.” 

See also:

http://jasonnparkinson.blogspot.com/2009/11/death-threats-for-journalists-covering.html

Postal worker/blogger Roy Mayall appears in ‘the Guardian’

Postal worker/blogger Roy Mayall (pseudonym) holds forth on ‘modernisation’ in ‘The Guardian’ (see also my posts: “Is modernisation the real issue?” and “Postal Union heads for High Court”.

Roy says: “The reason this strike is unique is that it has nothing to do with pay. It is about the future of the Royal Mail itself – us postal workers are being portrayed as like dinosaurs clinging to our outdated and outmoded working practices. What the Royal Mail needs is a good dose of modernisation, we are told…

…I guess it depends on what you mean by “modernisation”. At times, the so-called “modernisation programme” is a farce. I know of someone working in a delivery office in Cambridgeshire who was in tears recently. Apparently he had been given 100 extra calls to make on his daily round but couldn’t fit them into his shift. His manager told him he was going to receive “refresher training”. When he asked what this involved, the manager replied: “How to walk faster…”

 

Palestinian Child Prisoners. Tour starts today (Liverpool)

From a mailing received today;

“Mohammad Abu Eid, from the occupied West Bank, was 14 years old when he was detained by the Israeli forces in February 2008 and accused of throwing stones at the Wall. Mohammad was beaten, interrogated in the absence of a lawyer and family member, deceived into signing a confession, prosecuted in a military court and sentenced to four months imprisonment inside Israel. Whilst in prison, he received no education and no family visits”.

Mohammed, in the company of his mother, Somaya, will share their experiences with the audience to foster a better understanding of the situation facing Palestinian children. They will be joined by Gerard Horton, from Defence for Children International - Palestine, a lawyer working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Abdelfattah Abusrour, President of Palestinian Theatre League; an at each meeting there will be additional testimony from our esteemed UK guests who have extensive knowledge of the region and the shocking situation facing vulnerable children.

All public meetings start at 7pm and finish at 9pm

Monday 2 November, Liverpool Quaker Meeting House, School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BT Chair: Betty Hunter Guest: Dr. Derek Summerfield Tuesday 3 November, London Mander Hall, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD Chair: Sir Geoffrey Bindman Guests: Baroness Helena Kennedy and Christine Blower Wednesday 4 November, Sheffield Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James Street, Sheffield S1 2EW Chair: Hugh Lanning Guest: Bruce Kent and Musheir El-Farra Thursday 5 November, Oxford Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1BX Chair: Victoria Brittain Guests: Danny Friedman and Karma Nabulsi

Why postal workers are defending their right to strike – Royal Mail (er…I mean Roy Mayall’s) diary

Royal Mail – er.. I mean Roy Mayall – (a pseudonym) has been a delivery postal worker for five years. He(she?) writes for the London Review Blog - revealing some of the realities behind current working conditions and politics (and why they need strong trade union protection in the workplace). Here is some of what Roy has to say about Peter Mandelson’s comment on TV in May: ‘Figures are down’:

It’s the joke at the delivery office. ‘Figures are down’, we say, and laugh as we pile the fifth or sixth bag of mail onto the scales and write down the weight in the log-book. It’s our daily exercise in fiction writing…we hear that sentence almost every day at work when management are trying to implement some new initiative which involves postal workers like me working longer hours for no extra pay, carrying more weight, having more duties…

Fellow postal worker Pat Stamp comments on the blog:

“Like Roy Mayall…I am a postman and concerned at the absence in the media of any account of how mail delivery is organised and what Royal Mail’s modernisation programme entails. The programme was introduced because the popularity of email and texting has caused a drop in mail volume. Royal Mail’s first step was to reduce the number of ‘walks’. It did this by cutting some walks in each area and making the remaining walks longer. A postman who normally delivered mail to six streets, say, now found himself delivering to eight or nine. During the summer months, when mail volumes were low, he could perhaps, just cope with this. But as autumn begins and the Christmas catalogues start to come out, every week and sometimes every day can be heavy. In the run-up to last Christmas, there were postman who only finished their walks at 7 or 8.p.m., sometimes two or three times a week. In one depot alone, around 15 postman phonen in sick. This Christmas, with the even longer walks, it could be worse. Royal Mail is a strong promoter of general health and safety, but as the walks lengthen and the loads increase, many of us feel that our own health and safety isn’t being taken into consideration…”

To find out more about day-to-day working conditions of delivery staff read Roy’s blog - see this London Review: Roy Mayall’s diary:

Postal Union heads for High Court

The Guardian reports today – The Communication Workers Union (postal) is due to take the Royal Mail to the High Court this week. The Royal Mail is allegedly illegally employing agency staff to break the strike.

See this Guardian report: Hiring of temporary workers is illegal says union.

A letter to the late Pauline Campbell – “Quakers and Criminal Justice in the 21st. Century”

Quakers and Criminal Justice in the 21st. Century. A regional Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Wilmslow. Saturday 17th. October, 2009

Dear Pauline,

Tomorrow supporters of United Family and Friends will be gathering in London although no demonstration is planned this year. (Ken Fero, co-director of the film INJUSTICE, invites anyone who would like to attend to meet with him at the usual location. For more details – click here). Friends will uphold a banner for your daughter Sarah. You will be missed, Pauline. I cannot be there so I’m writing this letter.

My press card makes claims to ‘objectivity’ (if such a thing exists at all). But these  words reflect my own ’prejudices’ - a belief in the work you were doing. There is still a strong movement for positive and radical change in our criminal justice system. At the same time I see the great, gaping hole your death left behind. 

On Saturday 17th. October Joan Meredith and I travelled to Wilmslow to attend a meeting - a Regional Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, open to Quakers and attenders of Quaker Meetings called ‘Quakers and the Criminal Justice System in the 21st. century’. I believe  similar meetings have been taking place in other parts of the country.

 We mentioned your name several times at the meeting.  At least three people I spoke to didn’t know who you were. You. ‘The suffragette of penal reform” (as David Wilson called you in the book ‘Death at the hands of the state’). Are criminal justice movements so fragmented now and so separate that they don’t connect with each other’s history? It’s only just  over a year since you died.

The Meeting in Wilmslow was well attended and significant – around one hundred Friends and Attenders. To use an un-quakerly metaphor – quakers are well known to ‘punch above their weight’ as far as influencing government policy is concerned. See: Quaker international involvement at the U.N .

This is not a report as such – there should be one of those appearing in the international Quaker Journal ‘The Friend’ soon. You were never officially a Quaker I know - for most of my life neither was I. Be open to ‘new light’ is what quakers say.

The meeting opened with a description of Elizabeth Fry – a favourite role model and heroine of yours. Here is the (well-thumbed) agenda – if you were still alive  I would have shown it to you in the Fire Station cafe. You would have scrutinised it, no doubt. You’ll notice a few of my own scribbles on the paper – Angie Zelter’s name came up as one of the Quaker prison chaplains mentioned having had contact with her whilst she was in prison.

Ten years. Perhaps you might have asked me why representatives of Inquest, the Howard League , United Family and Friends, No More Prisons , or Campaign for Justice for Jean Charles de Menezes were not speaking on such an important day. This question came to me too. Does it help at all to know –  historically speaking there have always been conservative and ‘radical’ elements in Quakerism? There is no single ‘quaker’ perspective.

 Is it possible, (or important) to categorise the organisations I have named here as ’radical’ or ‘conservative’? I’m not sure – I would have liked to hear your views on this. If you were still alive, (and as a Trustee of the Howard League) perhaps you would have been leading the day yourself?

As is often the case with such meetings – there was far too much information to digest - I couldn’t speak to everybody and had to make a choice between workshops. I chose two: the first (and the overview) was led by Graham Robb – who amongst other issues spoke about risk factors and prevention. The second was led by Michael Hennessey (Youth Justice Panel member) speaking about referral orders.  

Of course all this meant I missed workshops two(see this link: Quaker support in prison), three (Women/Rehabilitation)  and four(Suicides and Mental Health in Prison). All of these would have been important to you, as we know.

I’ve never specialised in criminal justice. I miss you in that respect too  – your expertise.  I know how many facts you had at your fingertips and how well you worked together with journalists to facilitate the truth. After attending this meeting I still have questions about what the truth of the criminal justice system in the 21st. century really is.

The meeting confirmed my belief that Quakers are working extremely hard to maintain preventative strategies in all sorts of ways. Working at the coal face (if you like) to stop young people quite literally losing their lives in the mill of the machinery of the state (as your daughter Sarah did). Anyone who hears Michael Hennessy describe his work with young people and referral orders - will not doubt this. In plenary discussions Friends said quaker-inspired projects such as ‘Circles of Support and Accountability’ are ‘not popular with (what was termed) ‘the media’ – especially not the Daily Mail’. Of course I’ve got my own take on this one.

Nevertheless – Friends (Quakers) are clearly engaging with elected representatives, civil servants and decision makers. Graham Robb (former Chair of the Youth Justice Board) approached me after giving his initial overview and has responded to my emails and requests for information. The first question I asked after he had given his overview would have been important to you.

The question was “How many deaths have there been in custody in recent years?” I was initially confused by Graham’s answer  – perhaps my question could have been more precise. I believe you would have understood the implications of his answer much better than I could, Pauline. Graham said there had been nine deaths since 2000. Of course his answer referred only to the up to 18 year old age group.We know that even one death is one too many.

 Seeking to put this in context I approached the Howard League’s Lost Daughters Campaign (set up in your memory) and learned:

“1,668 women and girls have died in custody (prison, immigration, approved premises and detention under the Mental Health Act) between 1999 and 2008.

This figure includes 72 women officially recorded as ‘self-inflicted deaths’ in prison.  Another three women have died in prison and been categorised as self-inflicted deaths this year, with one woman dying categorised as natural causes. The deaths of women in prison are still a national scandal”. 

The Howard League also told me:

“As far as (we) know there isn’t a published list of deaths in custody- the Ministry of Justice send us notification as and when a death in custody occurs…in 2009…

•  Alison Colk, 36, died on her first night of a 28 day sentence for theft in Styal prison. She was found suspended by ligature.
•  Samantha Dainty, 32, died in her cell in Forston Hall prison. She was in prison for life and was found hanging.
•  Julie Hooper, 45, died in her cell in Send prison. She was found in the night with lacerations to her arms and legs.
•  Michelle Pearce was a terminally ill cancer patient. She was detained in Send prison, although she died in hospital having had her life support machine turned off”.

We  miss you, Pauline and bless you.

Frances.

See also: http://rememberpauline.wordpress.com/

and resources compiled by the Quaker United Nations Office: http://www.quno.org/humanrights/women-in-prison/womenPrisonLinks.htm   

The postal strike. Is ‘modernisation’ the real issue?

It’s still the number one news story. Is there anything useful to add to the acres of newsprint produced already?  Many of us don’t  think twice about what happens to our mail after it disappears into   that red box. We should. The Guardian’s  undercover reporter  Steven Morris had a pretty good go at describing contemporary postal realities at the Royal Mail coal face this week.

But doing the job on a temporary basis (when you know you have another source of income to draw on) is very different from relying on it to survive. 

I worked at the Royal Mail for at least five years, both as an agency staff member and a Royal Mail employee. I was also a member of the Communication Worker’s Union Women’s Committee for a year. So readers – I’m going to try to ’decode’ selected aspects of the jargon-filled negotiations for you… 

The word ‘modernisation’ crops up a lot  in press releases – giving the impression that postpeople are some sort of Luddites – opposed to the introduction of technology at every turn. I asked a passing delivery person what he thought of the ‘new machines’ which are being discussed. He said:

‘The idea of them is great – but management have had the money for them for two  years and they can’t get them to work – they seem to work fine in Germany though…’

Interesting , I thought. So postpeople on the ground are opposed to ‘modernisation’ are they?

Next up: ‘family-friendly policies’. What does that mean exactly? Of course - part-time work contracts can be very useful. To my knowledge though, there are still a large number of what I call ‘part-time-full-timers’ at the Royal Mail.  These are people who have been given part-time contracts but quite regularly (consistently or permanently) work full-time hours without the security, the breaks, the working conditions or the holiday entitlement offered by a full-time contract. I believe former colleagues of mine are still making up their hours with what is known as ’overtime’.  

What does this system mean for a post person on a week-to-week basis? If it is the same as it was six years ago - a postal worker requests ‘overtime hours’ each week  like clockwork – with no guarantee that they will get the extra work.  This system appears to suit the employer very well - such ‘family-friendly’ contracts afford a great deal of flexibility for a business.

 What happens though, when the employer stops offering ‘overtime’? Why is the Royal Mail apparently so keen to introduce more of these contracts? Do these practices conform to the well-established European Directive on Part-time work?   Questions to bear in mind when listening to mainstream news…