Royal Mail won a
High Court Injunction declaring the strike call to be unlawful and saying that
the CWU is obliged to withdraw its strike call until the external mediation
process has been exhausted. You can read more about it on this article which
will be updated as more news comes through. So what happens next?
The Agenda for Growth
The
CWU and Royal Mail both signed the Agenda for Growth at the time Royal Mail was
privatised. This legally binding agreement set out what would happen in the
event the two parties couldn’t reach an agreement and we reproduce the “External
Mediation” section below this article. Picking through the agreement we can set
out a timeline to indicate the earliest possible date that the CWU could call
strikes deemed to be lawful by the High Court.
The External Mediation Timeline
The Appointment of an external Mediator – At least
1 week
1. An
external mediator will be appointed by ACAS.
Submissions – At least 2, possibly up to 4 weeks
1. Both
Royal Mail and the CWU will put forward a representative to help the mediator
to understand the issues in question and will provide all the evidence and a
clear statement of the issues in dispute.
Mediator to make recommendations – Time 2 weeks
1. Within
two weeks of having received all submissions the mediator will produce non-binding
recommendations.
Royal Mail and CWU will meet – Time 1 week
1. Within
one week of the recommendations being made the CWU and Royal Mail will meet to
review the outcome and decide their response. If at this time agreement is met
then the dispute ends and recommendations immediately implemented.
Failure to agree – Time 2 Weeks
1. If
either party is unable to accept the mediators recommendations then a further 2
week period is prescribed for further negotiations. The disagreeing party is
expected to advise the reasons for rejecting the recommendations and their
alternative suggestions.
Further failure to agree
1. If
by this stage agreement hasn’t been met then the parties will write to each
other to notify of their intentions. It is at this point that the CWU could
notify Royal Mail of their lawful intention to call for strikes
Minimum 7 weeks before industrial action by Postal
Workers
Picking
through the timeline there are at least 7 weeks of prescribed mediation
activities which must take place before a postal strike will be deemed lawful.
Starting today this takes us up to the 16th of November. However, in reality,
the process will take considerably longer as it can’t truly get underway until
a mediator is appointed.
Will the mediation process be completed in 7 weeks?
Doubtless
the CWU will want the process to be as speedy as possible as there will be
considerably less impacts from postal workers industrial action after
Christmas. In addition the CWU are on a time line as their ballot is only valid
for 6 months at which time they would have to reballot postal workers if they
wished to stage further industrial action.
There
is plenty of wiggle room for Royal Mail to delay proceedings and they have
indicated that the process could last until after or at least close to
Christmas. The Agenda for Growth agreement doesn’t specify how long various
stages (such as submitting evidence) should take. One might expect an
independent mediator to insist that the process be relatively speedy but that
is still open to interpretation and stalling tactics.
It
would appear unlikely that the mediation process will be completed within
anything close to 5 weeks and both the CWU and Royal Mail acknowledge it will
be at least a seven week process, but the clock doesn’t even start ticking
until a mediator is appointed.
Does this mean no strikes before Christmas?
There
are a number of things that could now happen outside the mediation process. The
CWU are doubtless considering an appeal to the High Court injunction, which if
overturned would clear the way for strikes. It’s also a possibility that the
CWU would call for illegal strikes in which case we have no idea that the
ramifications would be.
Terry
Pullinger of the CWU, speaking outside the court today, suggested that the
process would be completed within seven weeks meaning that a likely earliest
date for strikes would be around the 1st of December.
ARoyal
Mail spokesperson told us: “Royal Mail is very committed to working closely
with the CWU in order to reach agreement as a matter of priority“.
The
first step of the mediation process is to appoint a mediator. Royal Mail are
currently working together with the CWU to appoint a joint external mediator.
Once the mediator has been appointed, Royal Mail say that there is a minimum
seven week process to go through.
The ‘Agenda for Growth’ agreement between Royal
Mail and the CWU
5.4 External Mediation
External
Mediation will apply in the following circumstances:
·
If a local disagreement
remains unresolved after Stage 3 of the IR Framework there will be 7 days for
national intervention, after which it will automatically be referred
immediately for external mediation.
·
Where the national parties
fail to reach agreement on a point of principle relating to existing agreements
that has been referred to them, it will be referred for external mediation
after a period not exceeding one month from it being initially tabled by either
party.
·
Where there is a national
disagreement relating to a matter that is not covered by existing collective
agreements, it will be similarly referred if an agreed way forward is not found
within one month.
·
Where unballoted industrial
action continues beyond 48 hours.
The
External Mediator will be appointed from a jointly agreed panel managed by ACAS
and will have no other connection with Royal Mail or the CWU. The mediator will
be provided with all relevant papers and evidence, together with clear statements
from each party on the issue that is in dispute and on which a recommendation
is sought. Both Royal Mail and CWU will provide a representative to work with
the Mediator to assist in understanding the issue in dispute, the background
and the implications of any decision before it is made.
In
considering the dispute and making recommendations, the External Mediator will
take account of any regulatory and legal requirements, the terms and spirit of
the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement, other
relevant national agreements, the needs of customers, the universal service
obligation, and the need for appropriate efficiency supported by a climate of
sustainable trust and collaborative decision making.
The
External Mediator will produce recommendations within two weeks of having
received all relevant papers and having met the representatives of each party.
Although the recommendations from the mediator are nonbinding the expectation
is that both parties will use the mediator’s recommendations to resolve their
differences. The parties will meet within one week of the mediator’s
recommendations to review the outcome and confirm their response. If they both
agree, the resolution arising from the recommendations will be implemented without
further delay. If one or both parties are unable to agree in whole or in part
with the recommendations, they will advise the other of the reasons for this,
indicate what they are prepared to agree instead and there will then be a
further two weeks during which there is a final opportunity to reach agreement
before the process is concluded.
In
the event that the process concludes without agreement, the parties will write
to each other to notify their intentions.
The
parties may agree to extend any of the timescales above by agreement.
