THE POLITICAL AGENDA OF THE CWU


INTRODUCTION

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has a political fund, separate from its general fund, to enable it to run political campaigns and finance political activities.

There are a host of issues affecting CWU members which have a political dimension. Many of these are specific to the industries in which our members work - primarily posts and telecommunications - but others are of more general relevance to the collective trade union movement.

This political work sometimes involves local lobbying - likely to be more often the case with the forthcoming establishment of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly - and often requires lobbying of Government and Parliament at the national level and of the Commission and the Parliament at European Union (EU) level.

The remainder of this paper provides illustrations of such issues.

A) POSTAL ISSUES

1. Local Level

  • MLO closures
    We have lobbied local authorities and local MPs in respect of Royal Mail’s wish to close or re-locate certain mechanised letter offices (MLOs), notably - where we were successful - Dartford and Liverpool.

  • Crown Office conversions
    • Together with local consumer and interest groups, we have run local campaigns against the proposal by Post Office Counters Limited to convert certain Crown offices into franchised offices.

    2. National Level

  • Ownership & control of Post Office
    • We have run a major campaign around the Labour Government’s review of the Post Office seeking to prevent any privatisation of the Post Office but instead provide the Post Office with much more commercial freedom. This campaign has involved the submission of both written and oral evidence to both the Department of Trade & Industry and the House of Commons Select Committee on Trade & Industry. Furthermore, the General Secretary and the Head of Research have had a series of private meetings with no less than 10 members of the Cabinet plus members of the No. 10 Policy Unit and the No 10 Political Unit.

  • Scope of reserved area
    • We are currently lobbying the Government to prevent Royal Mail’s monopoly from being reduced any faster than the European Commission’s programme for the liberalisation of European postal services.

  • Crown Office conversions
    • We successfully persuaded the incoming Labour Government to impose a moratorium on any further Crown office conversations pending a review to which we made a major written submission. Although the Government has now lifted the moratorium, we have successfully managed to introduce a limit to the franchising process which will ensure that 15% of POCL’s business remains within Crown offices.

  • Quadrant joint venture
    • When the Government approved Royal Mail’s proposal that Quadrant should become a joint venture, we had a series of meetings with the relevant Minister to ensure the maximum protection for the terms and conditions of our members involved.

  • Control of animals
    • We have had long-running discussions with Members of Parliament about the scheme for ensuring that rabies is kept out of the country and currently we are lobbying in respect of the proposal to move from a quarantine system to a ‘pet passport’ system.

  • British summer time
    • Periodically we have been required to run a campaign to maintain the present system whereby clocks go forward by one hour in the Spring and go back by one hour in the Autumn. An alternative proposal to bring British time in line with European time would hit our membership in the North of England and Scotland.

    3. European Level

  • Liberalisation programme
    • We have had a series of meetings with officials of the European Commission and members of the European Parliament over the Green Paper and then the Directive in respect of the liberalisation of European postal services. Proposals for further liberalisation must be agreed by the end of this calendar year and therefore this lobbying programme is still in full force.

  • Terminal dues agreement
    • Most European postal administrations - including the British Post Office - have recently reach provisional agreement on a new system of terminal dues which are payments made by postal administrations to each other for carrying each other’s international mail. Since our Post Office is a net exporter of mail, we stand to lose from the current agreement and therefore have made a written submission to the European Commission.

    4. Global Level

  • UPU work
    • The Universal Postal Union is the official UN agency for co-ordinating the activities of all national postal administrations and has a full-scale congress every five years. The next congress will be held this year in Beijing and, together with the Communications International, we are endeavouring to ensure that there is a trade union viewpoint on the major issues for debate.

  • ILO work
    • The International Labour Organisation is the official UN agency for the promotion of good labour relations throughout the world and every five years holds a sectoral conference devoted particularly to the postal industry. The CWU always provides a member of the Communications International team at this event.


    B) TELECOMMUNICATIONS ISSUES

    1. Local Level

  • Siting of antennae
    • Together with local minority groups, on occasions we run local campaigns against the inappropriate siting of tall or conspicuous microwave or radio antennae.

  • Laying of cable
    • On occasions, we have had to make local representations in respect of laying of cable by local cable television operators where this activity has caused damage to pavements or trees.

  • Regional infrastructure
    • Over the next few months, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales will all have devolved authorities which will exercise powers over economic and social matters currently exercised by the national parliament, and one of the major issues we will be discussing with these new authorities is the telecommunications infrastructure in these particular parts of the United Kingdom.

    2. National Level

  • Government policy
    • We regularly hold meetings with Government Ministers and Whitehall officials in order to lobby on particular aspects of Govenrment policy which impact on BT and telecommunications more widely. In the last few years, issues of particular concern have included the ban on BT carrying broadcasting on its telecommunications network (the so-called asymmetry rule) and the campaign on BT purchasing the 40% of Cellnet which it does not currently own. A major Government decision this year will involve the award of new mobile licences for universal mobile telecommunications systems (UMTS) and BT will be bidding for one of the 3 or 4 licences.

  • Regulatory decisions
    • The Government appoints a Director General of Telecommunications whose decisions have a major impact on BT. We make written submissions on most DTI inquiries, notably the regular reviews of the BT price cap. Currently our major concern revolves around an inquiry into local lop unbundling which could provide access by competitors to BT’s local lines and local exchanges. Another regulatory issue of current debate is how best to co-ordinate the regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting at a time when both services are becoming increasingly digital and more and more converged.

  • Information society issues
    • We regularly meet Government Ministers and Whitehall officials to discuss a range of issues concerning the promotion of the information superhighway and the development of the information society. These issues cover everything from encryption techniques to intellectual property rights to the National Grid for Learning.

    3. European Level

  • Liberalisation programme
    • Over a period of years, we have made representations to the European Commission over the opening up to competition of telecommunications markets throughout the European Union. In 1999, the Commission is carrying out a major review of the current Directives and regulatory framework and the outcome could have a significant impact on BT’s ability to compete fairly in other EU member states.

  • Information society issues
    • The European Commission is promoting a range of initiatives designed to speed up the use of IT throughout the European Union, and we have been in dialogue with relevant officials over a whole host of issues such as the regulation of convergence, the protection of copyright, teleworking and the promotion of employment opportunities.

    4. Global Level

  • ITU work
    • The International Telecommunications Union is the official UN agency for the promotion of telecommunications standards throughout the world. On occasions, we have had to put views on important initiatives, such as promotion of infrastructure in underdeveloped countries.

  • OECD work
    • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development represents the 28 most industrialised countries of the world and it takes a particular interest in telecommunications and information technology since these are major sectors for growth. The CWU represents the Trade Union Advisory Committee of the OECD on the Telecommunications Working Party.


    C) GENERAL ISSUES

    1. Local Level

  • Crime & social exclusion
    • Locally, we have to take an interest in levels of crime and urban deprivation, since postal delivery staff and telecommunications technicians are required to visit virtually all homes in the country including those in areas where personal assault is a continuing risk.

  • Transport & environment
    • We have to take an interest in local transport arrangements and the quality of the local environment since this impacts on the working and personal lives of our members.

    2. National Level

  • Economic policy
    • The economic policy of the Government affects our members directly in the impact on the purchasing power of their wages and indirectly since the growth of both posts and telecommunications is closely related to the state of the national economy.

  • Employment law
    • The Government’s proposals for new fairness at work legislation impacts on our members in a whole series of ways including organising and recruitment, balloting procedures, and maternity and parental leave. Therefore we have had discussions with Ministers and officials and we will be lobbying on the Employment Relations Bill.

  • Education & training
    • Our members are affected by the Government’s policy in respect of further education and vocational training and we are actively involved in the debate around the development of life-long learning, including the National Grid for Learning and the University of Industry.

  • Pensions
    • Both the BT and Post Office pensions schemes have been impacted by recent budgetary decisions and more generally the Government’s pensions policy impacts, if not so much on our members themselves, their partners and families.

  • Health & safety
    • The resources which the Government makes available to the Health & Safety Executive has an impact on the frequency with which inspectors can visit Post Office and BT sites and the quality of the support service to our union safety representatives.

  • Transport & environment
    • The Government’s policy for integrating transport systems and cleaning up the environment all have a significant impact on the quality of our members’ lives both at home and at work.

  • Equal opportunities
    • We regularly have occasion to lobby the Government or the appropriate agency in respect of racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

  • Electoral reform
    • Any proposed reform of our current electoral system would impact on the current links between the Labour Party and the trade union movement and therefore we have to have a view on proposals such as those from the Jenkins Commission.

    3. European Level

  • European monetary union
    • The trade union movement needs to make clear its view on whether and, if so when, the United Kingdom should enter European Monetary Union and the implications for working people.

  • Works councils
    • Some of our members have been impacted by the European Directive on Works Councils since, although the UK opted out of the Social Chapter under the Conservative Government, BT and some other companies where we have members have chosen voluntarily to introduce such councils.

  • Working time
    • The European Working Time Directive is affecting all of our members but in very different ways which depend on their traditional work patterns.

  • Health & safety
    • In recent years, the European Commission has enacted a whole series of Directives on health & safety and the detailed implementation of these has required very active involvement by the trade union movement.

  • Racism & xenophobia
    • The European Commission is seeking to combat racism and xenophobia throughout Europe and we have actively supported relevant campaigns and initiatives.

    4. Global Level

  • ILO work
    • Besides the work of the ILO in the specific areas of posts and telecommunications, we have supported the more general work of the ILO in areas such as minimum labour standards for conduct by multinational corporations.

  • World economic order
    • Although our influence is obviously marginal, we have to take an interest in the state of the global economy since this affects our domestic economy and impacts on the overseas activities of BT and the Post Office.

  • Poverty & discrimination
    • The nature of trade unions is such that we will always wish to support campaigns and initiatives designed to alleviate poverty and racial discrimination wherever these evils arise throughout our interdependent world.


    CONCLUSION

    As will be seen, the range of issues on which we could intervene politically is enormous. The Union’s National and International Policy Committee decides the priorities for our lobbying work and the Union’s Political Fund Management Committee is responsible for allocating the appropriate funds and managing relations with the Labour Party at all levels.

    ROGER DARLINGTON
    Head of Research
    3 February, 1999


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